Reproductive Technologies

Intro to Reproductive Technologies  For most of a pregnancy you wonder about who your baby will look like, who will it behave like.  As birth approaches concerns about general health and well-being take over.

Intro to Reproductive Technologies  Not long ago details about the health of a developing baby could not be known.  Today information can be gathered from the developing fetus, it can even be predicted before the baby is conceived.

Genetic Counseling  For couples who have a family history of a genetic disorder or have a child with a heritable disorder  Genetic Counselors gather information, blood work and construct a family pedigree  They predict the likelihood of subsequent children having the disorder.

Pre - implantation Diagnosis  Parents concerned about a heritable disorder, such as cystic fibrosis and Duchenne MD, can use in vitro fertilization to conceive a child (their sperm and eggs are brought together in a dish ).  As the embryo starts to divide, a karyotype is produced from one of it’s cells to determine whether the disorder has been inherited.  The doctors can then choose which embryo(s) to transfer back to the mother’s uterus.

Prenatal Diagnosis  If a woman has already conceived there are several tests that can diagnose inheritable disorders.

Prenatal Diagnosis  Amniocentesis: removing a sample of fetal cells from the fluid surrounding the baby and then performing a karyotype analysis.  Ultrasound is used to locate the baby and a long, thin needle is used to withdraw the fluid.  Risk to baby, cannot be done until after 14 th week of pregnancy and takes some time to get results.

Prenatal Diagnosis  Chorionic Villi Sampling (CVS)  The chorion is a special tissue that surrounds the amniotic sac and the baby, it is made of fetal cells.  a sample can be removed for karyotyping around the 9 th week of pregnancy

Treatment  Genetic Screening and Prevention  Many genetic disorders can be detected at birth through blood tests if they haven’t already been diagnosed.  Some disorders can be improved upon with diet, or surgery, if detected early enough.

 Sometimes the only treatment is to minimize the effects of the disorder – ex. People with albinism lack protection from the sunlight, there is no medical treatment, they have to limit exposure to sun.

Treatment  Gene therapy  Normal or modified genes are transferred into the defective cells of individuals.  Usually transferred by a harmless virus, which will perform the lytic cycle, and inject the good gene into the defective cells.  Hope is that the defective cells will begin functioning normally and the symptoms of the disorder will be reversed.

Human Genome Project  Human Genome Project was a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. Among the main goals were to: National Institutes of Health  Identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA,  determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA 

Genome Research  Scientists are also mapping the genome of other living organisms.  Some current and potential applications of genome research include:  Molecular medicine – improved diagnoses /drugs  Energy sources and environmental applications - biofuels  Risk assessment – carcinogens/mutations  Bioarchaeology, anthropology, evolution, and human migration  DNA forensics (identification)  Agriculture, livestock breeding, and bioprocessing