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Concluding Remarks: How to Think and Talk about Genes?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

Kostas Kampourakis
Affiliation:
Université de Genève
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Summary

In the preface of the present book I mentioned the 1997 film GATTACA. What was science fiction then is nowadays represented as a possibility. Private companies seem to offer GATTACA-type genetic tests to parents, with the promise to assess embryos for a variety of conditions. Despite the limitations of polygenic risk scores (PRSs), briefly discussed in the previous chapter, according to the company Genomic Prediction, they can be used to assess disease risk. To achieve this, couples have to undergo the procedures of in vitro fertilization. Each woman receives hormones to stimulate ovulation, and ova are selected and fertilized with their husband’s sperm. Then, after a few days, embryos consisting of a handful of cells undergo preimplantation genetic diagnosis. This is a process during which a single cell of the developing embryo is removed and tested for the presence of DNA variants related to a condition. On the basis of this, PRSs for each embryo can be calculated and decisions can be made about which embryo(s) should be transferred to the mother’s uterus for implantation. Currently, the company is quite clear on their website about what can and cannot be done.

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Understanding Genes , pp. 182 - 186
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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