Do You Really Want To Know Your Baby's Genetics?

Harriet Washington:

Boy or girl? This you can easily discover, but wouldn't you like to know more? If you could peer into your baby's medical future, what traits would you most want assurance about?

Most parents wouldn't hesitate: a healthy child. Soon science will be able to help them with that more quickly, completely--and safely--than ever before.

In June, a team at the University of Washington in Seattle announced a new technique that enables the construction of a comprehensive genome sequence--a genetic "blueprint," as they described it--of the developing fetus from as early as the first trimester (Science Translational Medicine, vol 4, p 137ra76). The test could be available in clinics in as little as five years.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 20, 2012 2:13 AM
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