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It might be too late for today's babies, but if you could build a big enough catalog of mutations and suspected/confirmed ill effects, then you'd potentially be
by mikepurvis 7y ago
It might be too late for today's babies, but if you could build a big enough catalog of mutations and suspected/confirmed ill effects, then you'd potentially be able to catch thousands of these mutations essentially at conception and supply a custom therapy right then and there to correct it before any brain development has begun at all.
- lazyasciiart 7y agoMost people don’t even know when they conceive. A significant number of pregnancies end in miscarriage without the woman ever knowing. Lack of a catalog of issues is only the first obstacle to any kind of “correction at conception”.
- adrianN 7y agoIf you catch the problem at conception, the easiest way seems to be to abort and try again.
- mikepurvis 7y agoThat is fair, and indeed, there are a bunch of genetic disorders that can (and are) screened for prenatally, see: https://women.texaschildrens.org/program/high-risk-pregnancy-care/conditions/genetic-disorders https://women.texaschildrens.org/program/high-risk-pregnancy...
- rohanseth 7y agoLydia's father here. If I wasn't fighting this fight, my fight would be to push for prenatal exome sequencing. I acknowledge it's not as black and white -- there are some ethical concerns about how to process the data, but give the parents the choice.