A new frontier of disease preventing babies
Designer Babies
IVF
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IVF/ Vitro Fertilization is a one assisted reproductive technology (ART) commonly referred to as IVF. IVF is the process of fertilization by manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish, and then transferring the embryo to the uterus.
Why is IVF used?
IVF can be used to treat infertility with the following patients:
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Blocked or damaged fallopian tubes
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Male factor infertility including decreased sperm count or sperm motility
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Women with ovulation disorders, premature ovarian failure, uterine fibroids
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Women who have had their fallopian tubes removed
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Individuals with a genetic disorder
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Unexplained infertility
23&Me
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23andMe is a DNA analysis service providing information and tools for individuals to learn about and explore their DNA. We use the Illumina HumanOmniExpress-24 format chip. Our chip consists of a fully custom panel of probes for detecting genetic variations. The selection was made to maximize the number of ancestry features available to customers as well as offer flexibility for future research.
INNOVATORS
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
They are the UK’s independent regulator of treatment using eggs and
sperm, and of treatment and research involving human embryos. We set standards for, and issue licences to, centres. They provide authoratative information for the public, in particular for people seeking treatment, donor conceived people and donors. They determine the policy framework for fertility issues, which are sometimes ethically and clinically complex.
Fertility clinics offering treatments such as IVF, ICSI and egg or sperm donation operate under an Act of Parliament called the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.
The Act requires clinics to consider the welfare of any child who may be born as a result of treatment and the welfare of any existing child of the family before they agree to provide treatment.
It is the HFEA's responsibility to provide clinics with guidelines on how to comply with this legal requirement.
PGD Science, Inc.
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PGD is an adjunctive procedure to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Therefore, controlled ovarian stimulation, egg retrieval, fertilization and embryo development occur as usual with IVF (procedure and risks discussed on IVF consent). PGD starts with embryo biopsy which can be performed on day 3, day 4 or day 5 of development. It is used to prevent genetic diseases or to select the most suitable embryos for transfer to establish a pregnancy.
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Usually embryos are biopsied by our experienced embryologists using micromanipulation techniques to remove one cell without impacting the further development of the embryo.
The removed cell can be tested by several methods including:
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Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for possible gene disorders
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Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH)
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Chromosomal Microarray Analysis (CMA).
Jacques Cohen
"In the mid-1990s, embryologist Jacques Cohen pioneered a promising new technique for helping infertile women have children. His technique, known as cytoplasmic transfer, was intended to "rescue" the eggs of infertile women who had undergone repeated, unsuccessful attempts at in vitro fertilization, or IVF. It involved injecting the cytoplasm found inside the eggs of a fertile donor, into the patient's eggs.
When the first baby conceived through cytoplasmic transfer was born in 1997, the press instantly hailed Cohen's technique as yet another technological miracle. The embryologists reported that they had endowed the children with extra bits of a special type of genetic material, known as mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, which came with the cytoplasm transferred from the donor eggs to the patient's.
That meant the resulting children had three genetic parents: mother, father, and mtDNA donor. It also meant that female children would transmit their unorthodox combination of mitochondrial DNA to their own offspring (mtDNA is passed down only through eggs), with unknown implications. In effect, Cohen had created the first bioengineered babies. As Cohen's group noted, their experiment was 'The first case of human [inheritable] genetic modification resulting in normal, healthy children.'"