2010 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2010. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.

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17

If you know you have a bad gene, is there a way to get rid of it before passing it on to the next generation?(VH & TA)      Jessica Hooks, M.S.: I am a prenatal genetic counselor who sees preconception and prenatal patients for a variety of indications. I also serve as the genetic counselor for the Charlotte Fetal Care Center, which is a multidisciplinary team dedicated to the prenatal treatment of complex birth defects and obstetrical complications. Tough question. We can't get rid of any of our genes, but, there is a way to test an embryo to see if it has that "bad" gene before implanting it in to a potential mother to make a baby. This technology is called preimplantation genetic diagnosis. East Haven High School in CT (10th grade student)

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