designer baby

Designer Babies & the Government

FIB

Lecture 5

Agenda today• What is meant by ‘designer baby’• Current understanding• Future capabilities• Abuse of knowledge & technology• Germline vs Non-germline Manipulation• Ownership issues

What are designer babies?• Lets start with the natural condition first

To have a baby naturally we need two parents of opposite sexWoman &Man

The woman's egg supplies one set of chromosomes and that of the man the otherEgg contains 23 chromosomes - one of each sizeSperm contains 23 chromosomes - one of each size

Once fertilized the embryo has all the genetic information it needs

and it begins to grow and develop into a baby

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Human chromosomes from a white blood cellEach is very important as it carries information

Karyotype

Total = 46Two of each= 23 pairs

Total = 46Two of each= 23 pairs



One sperm is permitted to fertilize one egg!

What are designer babies?• The way the gametes (egg and sperm) are

generated results in a random sampling of the parents genes.– Suppose the father has blue eyes. He may carry a blue

eye gene on one chromosome and a green eye gene on the other.

– The sperm will have a random 50:50 chance of getting the blue gene, since there is room to fit just one of the two genes.

– The same will apply for all the other 20,000 or so genes which are believed to make humans.

• The exact same thing will take place in the generation of the mothers egg.

Outside =Blue Eyes

Inside = blue eye gene

blue eye gene

Outside = Brown EyesInside = brown eye gene

blue eye gene

They can have kids with eitherBROWN EYESor BLUE EYES






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Calculator

http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/ugenetics/

What are designer babies?• So the child is a random union of the potential

gene combinations of the father and that of the mother.

• If neither parent carries the blue eye gene (i.e. each carries just the genes for brown eyes), then the baby cannot have blue eyes.– *unless a rare mutation event occurs which forms the

blue gene• NATURE can only mix and match just what the

parents have to offer. And here lies the problem!• My wife and I wanted a child with green eyes!!!!!!

TOO BAD, MATE!Should have married a girl with just green

eyes running in her family, and even then………………………

Hang on a sec….

We may have something for you!

WAIT HERE PLEASE

Reproductive Research

• Advanced reproductive technologies allow parents and doctors to screen embryos for genetic disorders and select healthy embryos.– Take some tissue from the baby or its

immediate environment and perform genetic tests

• This is the logic behind developing these technologies

Abuse!• The fear is that in the future we may be

able to use genetic technologies to modify embryos and choose desirable or cosmetic characteristics.

• Designer babies is a term used by journalists to describe this frightening scenario.

• It is not a term used by scientists.

• The fear is that in the future we may be able to use genetic technologies to modify embryos and choose desirable or cosmetic characteristics.

• Designer babies is a term used by journalists to describe this frightening scenario.

• It is not a term used by scientists.

IVF• Advanced reproductive techniques involve

using InVitro Fertilisation (IVF) to fertilize eggs with sperm

• in 'test-tubes' • outside the mother's body in a laboratory.

• These techniques reduce the chance that a child will be born with a genetic disorder.

At the moment it is only legally possible to carry out two types of advanced reproductive technologies on humans. 1. Choosing the type of sperm that will fertilize an

egg: this is used to determine the sex and the genes of the baby.

2. Screening embryos for a genetic disease: only selected embryos are implanted back into the mother's womb. This is called Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD).

Here’s a small problem• As we noted the degree to which one

can manipulate the genome of the future child is limited by the potential of the parents genes

• If you have no genes for blue eyes between the parents, then you cannot select for a baby to have blue eyes

• …or can you?

Brave new World!• If someone with enough will and resources

really wanted to have a child with blue eyes - as athletic as David Beckham - they could in the future.

• We are developing technologies to swap pieces of DNA. – Blue genes into the egg & brown genes out

• The recent sequencing of the entire human genome is providing us with knowledge of the makeup of genes

Or will the laws set by the government outlaw such manipulations.

Watch this video clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9ep4B9Hw0



Germ Line Therapy• In the future we may be able to "cure" genetic

diseases in embryos by replacing faulty sections of DNA with healthy DNA.

• This is called germ line therapy and is carried out on an egg, sperm or a tiny fertilized embryo.

• Such therapy has successfully been done on animal embryos,

• but at present it is illegal to do this in humans.

Future Potential• Within a decade or two, it may be possible to

screen kids almost before conception for an enormous range of attributes, such as – how tall they're likely to be– what body type they will have– their hair and eye color– what sorts of illnesses they will be naturally resistant to– and even, conceivably, their IQ and personality type.



Baby to Order

• One can imagine “baby kiosks” where one visits when one wants a baby

• Here you may design your child from an ‘a-la-cart’ menu.

• In a society used to cosmetic surgery and psychopharmacology, this is not a big step!

Big Brother 9 tonight on CBS

• Laws tend to be influenced by – public opinion– the makeup of the government– and lobbyists

• Where are the lines drawn?• Who formulates these guidelines?• What happens if you break them?• Who will be able to afford it? The poor?

Legal ownership of DNA info

• Your DNA so you own it, right!• In the movie today we will investigate

the legal issues as to who owns the information carried by your DNA…

Video Questions -

1. Who won the race to sequence the human genome? And by how much?

2. Who is Craig Venter? What does his company own?

3. Why are the indigenous peoples upset? What was taken from them?

4. Why is the country of Iceland mentioned?5. What did DeCode Genetics get from the

Icelandic government?6. How much does a typical drug cost to develop?

Group questions

1. Would you like to have a say in the genetic make up of your children? Why and why not?

2. What are some of the dangers of interfering with Mother Nature?

3. Should the government and/or companies have a say in your decisions?

4. What about your health insurance company - should they be permitted to have a say in the genetic makeup of your future children?

5. Where would you draw the line with respect to engineering children?

designer baby

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