April 5, 2011 source: Gene Security Network press release
Gene Security Network (GSN) welcomes the birth of the first baby to be born following the use of GSN's novel Parental SupportTM technology for single gene preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and concurrent 24-chromosome screening. This test allows couples who are at risk to have children with genetic disease to undergo embryo testing during an in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle in order to conceive a pregnancy free of the genetic disease.
Parents Could Pass On Muscular Dystrophy
The parents of the healthy baby girl enrolled in GSN's clinical trial and underwent testing because they are both carriers for a severe inherited form of muscular dystrophy that typically results in early childhood death. Their carrier status does not affect their own health but puts them at 25% risk with each pregnancy to have a child with this incurable condition.
Dr. Carolyn Givens, the IVF physician for the new parents and Medical Co-Director of Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco, says she is delighted with GSN's new testing capabilities.
“I am truly excited and impressed to think that a single copy of DNA from a single cell of an early human embryo can tell us so much. Through this breakthrough technology, we can tell whether the embryo is a carrier or not for a genetic disease, or may become a child with a serious genetic disease. Plus, we can also know if that same embryo has the normal chromosomal make-up required to develop into a baby. To be able to apply molecular genetics in such a direct manner to result in a healthy, viable human is the ultimate in bench-to-bedside collaboration.”
She's A Miracle To Us
The parents of the healthy baby girl are ecstatic.
“We're overjoyed at the birth of our beautiful baby girl. We used IVF a number of times in the past and had suffered multiple devastating miscarriages before Dr. Givens told us about GSN's PGD testing. We joined GSN's clinical trial and had PGD with chromosome screening done at the same time. We had just one embryo with normal results but that's all it took to give us our precious baby. She's a miracle to us.”
About Gene Security Network (GSN)
GSN is a genetic testing company that has developed a proprietary bioinformatics technology (Parental SupportTM) to deliver accurate and comprehensive high throughput testing for reproductive indications from tiny quantities of child DNA – as small as that from a single cell. GSN operates a CLIA laboratory in Redwood City, CA, providing a host of preconception and prenatal genetic testing services based on parental support. Test offerings include preimplantation genetic diagnosis to analyze chromosomal anomalies or inherited genetic conditions during an IVF cycle in order to select embryos with the highest probability of becoming healthy children; products of conception testing following miscarriage to rapidly and extensively analyze fetal chromosomes in order to understand the cause; and non-invasive prenatal diagnosis, currently under clinical trial, to detect chromosomal anomalies by analyzing fragments of fetal dna in a pregnant mother's blood.
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Contacts
Gene Security Network
Jennifer Keller, 650-249-9090 ext. 309
jkeller@genesecurity.net