UK’s first baby born using Next-Generation DNA sequencing method

United Kingdom’s first baby named Biagio Russo was born in Oxford using Next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) method.
This method uses a revolutionary In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) technique resulting in better selection of embryos to transfer during the treatment.
Key facts

• NGS also known as high-throughput sequencing is bio medical process that allows doctors to easily choose the embryos which have the strongest chance of growing into healthy babies.
• This method helps doctors to move away from traditional manually count and identify problems caused by embryos produced in IVF having the wrong number of chromosomes.
• Unlike traditional screening methods, NGS can spot embryos that have more subtle DNA faults, and embryos that have only some cells with chromosomal defects.
• Significance: The NGS technique was first used successfully in the USA in 2013 and has huge potential for improving fertility treatments cheaply.
• It will help to overcome complications pregnancy due to IVF techniques and has revolutionised the study of genomics and molecular biology.
• NGS is widely expected to replace other techniques used in preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) of embryos to produce healthy babies.
• It can also be used for wide variety of research applications including variant (mutation) discovery, transcription factor analysis, gene expression, metagenomics, and epigenetics.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2016