NOTES - In Vitro
Fertilization & Genetic
Screening
What is in vitro fertilization?
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In vitro fertilization – a process by which egg
cells are fertilized by sperm cells outside of the
body
What is in vitro fertilization?
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Egg cells are removed from the woman’s
ovaries
The egg cells are placed in a fluid within
a Petri dish
Sperm cells from the male are placed in
the dish to fertilize the eggs
A fertilized egg (embryo) is then
transferred to the woman’s uterus usually more than one embryo is
transferred at a time to increase the
chances of success
In Vitro Fertilization
In Vitro Timeline
Embryos (Blastocyst Stage)
What is in vitro fertilization?
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The first IVF baby, Louise Brown, was
born in 1978 - currently about 1% of US
births are IVF
IVF leads to pregnancy about 35% of the
time and live births about 27% of the time
One in vitro cycle costs anywhere between
$10,000 and $20,000
What is genetic screening?
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Genetic screening – looking at the DNA
of an organism in order to identify genes
that cause particular traits
Genetic screening is currently used to look
for genes that cause hereditary diseases
or for genes that increase the likelihood of
developing a certain disease
What is genetic screening?
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Currently, scientists are trying to figure out
exactly what it is that each of the approximately
35,000 genes contained in human DNA actually
does.
Once scientists know what traits all human
genes are responsible for, they will be able to
look at anybody’s DNA and predict likely physical
and behavioral traits.
What are the consequences of being able to
predict all this information about a person?
How can genetic screening be
combined with in vitro fertilization?
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Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD)
– Embryos created through in vitro fertilization
are genetically screened before they are
implanted back into the mother
What does this mean? A few possibilities:
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Carriers of genes for hereditary diseases would be
able to have children without passing on their
defective genes
People are able to choose the sex of their baby
People may be able to select other traits for their
unborn children that they find to be desirable
Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis
The Fertility Institutes
Which kind of baby would you like?
Questions
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Who pays for PGD?
How much will people be allowed to
choose?
How much should people be allowed to
choose?
Who will have access to your genetic
information?
How should a person’s genetic information
be used?