Zain Rajani is the 1st baby born using Augment IVF treatment

A Toronto babyis the first in the world to be conceived by a new in vitro fertilization (IVF)treatment that re-energizes a woman's eggs usingmitochondria from her own egg precursorcells.

Zain Rajani, the picture of health, was born atfive pounds four ounces just under a month ago.

Hisparents,Natasha and Omar Rajani, had spent four yearstrying everything to conceive a childfertility drugs, time-intensive treatments andtraditional IVF but nothing worked.

• Egg freezing: the 'options' approach to parenthood

And then their doctor recommended Augment IVF.

"She basically told us, described what it entailed and to be honest, there wasn't anything to think about," said Natasha Rajani.

"I remember callingOmarand telling him I was in tears and I told him, 'I think we just won the lottery.' That there's this new procedure and we've been chosen for it," she said.

They went toTCARTFertility Partners in Toronto,the only clinicin North America offering the treatment.

Replacing the 'batteries' in eggs

Dr. Robert Casper, the clinic's medical director, said his team treats women who have already gone through IVF treatment and have either failed multiple timesto get pregnant or have poor embryo development.

"We believe it's an egg energy issue," he said.

What the Augment IVFprocedure does, then, isextractthe mitochondria of cells that line the surface of a mother's ovaries, which are egg precursor cells (or yet-to-be-developed eggs), and add themto the mother's older eggs to re-energize them. Mitochondria areknown as thepowerhouses of a cell.

"So what we're actually doing is sort of replacing the batteries in the eggs to give them a boost of energy to get to the day 5 stage or the blastocyst stage, where the embryo can implant," said Casper.

The procedure also involves alaparoscopy,minor abdominalsurgery to get a piece of the surface of the ovary in order to get the egg precursor cells.

Since he started performing the treatment a year ago, eight women all under 40 have gotten pregnant and are due in the near future. He said he is unsure if the Augment IVF treatment would be effective for women over 40.

Other fertility experts say more studies needto be done in order to know for sure ifthe treatment is effective.

But for Zain's proud parents, there is no doubt.

"The symbol of hope is Zain," said Natasha Rajani."There's light at the end of the tunnel. And this is our light."