Final Blog Post

Topic: Designer Babies
Research question: How does Designer Babies avoid the production of embryos with unhealthy genetic disorders?

Part 1: The Real Problem

In today's world, the technology is advanced enough to examine undeveloped embryos in the womb. Authorizing the expectant mother, her family, and her baby doctor to determine if there are any genetic disorders , and if there are some, then the parents will be able to choose to either insert enhancing genes or just directly hand-picked the healthy embryos only. 


Designer Babies, to design undeveloped embryos with the specific genes that the parents desire, that the parents always wanted their child to have and to sustain it all their life. But at the very first second that the technique of Designer Babies was developed, scientist only have one goal, and that is

to maintain the survival/essential genes in species, such that that type of creature would not be extinct or they would have a higher probability of living. So primarily, the real problem that Designer Babies is trying to solve is the case in which babies are born with imperfect genes that might cause them their lives, thus this technique was generally intended to help genetically-ill species to live longer. The video shown below concisely depicts what Designer Babies all about, and also an introduction on the main issues in various aspects that this scientific founding have brought us with.

Video 1

Medical ethicist, Hattie Kauffman introduce the issues surrounding the use of Designer Babies for more than just selecting the sex of the baby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ixEDLa3Jlc

There was a case studied in the fertility community, which allows parents to screen their embryos at the organization’s cost. This not only allow them to sensor the embryos for their sex and potential diseases, but also for very benign characteristics (i.e. color of eye, skin, hair, etc.). The company known as The Fertility Institutes offer as many couples as possible to spend their total savings on customizing their baby, as science today makes it possible to conceive without worrying what the baby would look and act like really. Thus the use of IVF has enabled large numbers of embryos to be screened for detrimental and even fatal diseases, before it is then implanted to the surrogate or biological mother. So IVF is not so bad after all, as it aided literally surplus amounts of couples from having their babies to sidestep some of the world’s most deadly diseases.

Part 2: Solution to the Problem

In short, an embryo must be created through the processes of IVF. And then no longer than the range of 5 days, a single cell of that embryo must be retracted. Such that the cell could be genetically tested either to detect any disorders or to insert desired traits. Afterwards parents would have the final and big decision on whether or not they want it to be implanted and nurtured of, or they don’t want it and intent to just discard it or use it for lab purposes. Couples most frequently used a genetic selection program called Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) to detect incurable diseases (e.g. Huntington disease, down syndrome), to create a duplicate of a sick individual either to help them heal or to replace it, and even to determine the sex of the baby beforehand.

Keep in mind that designer babies are a technique which function to create babies who have artificial genes selected by their parents. This works hand in hand with In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) as it forms embryos in the lab which consist of the absence or presence of specific genotypes. Thus the original goal was to screen these embryos, but lately we see an impending future where couple could easily use this means as a way to modify their embryos. There are five primary things that is possible to be modified in the laboratory: the overall physical outlook of the baby, their gender, their ability to comprehend things, whether or not they carry diseases, and lastly how the closest prediction of their disposition.

Prior to PGD, where embryos are screened for defects, they are first created through IVF, and in the eight stages it consist of, one of them is the phase in which some cells are retrieved. Then afterwards parents have the opportunity to insert desired traits to their baby, if they wish to. Bu then the institute or the doctors could not do any measures if none of the donating parents have the DNA for that specific genes. For example if parents want a blue-eyes child, but none of them has either the dominant or recessive allele of blue-eyes, then that wish could not be granted.

The Six Fundamental Stages of Designer Babies

As soon as sperm enter the egg, fertilization occurs 4-6 hours after this. But this process can only be prominently seen after about 17-18 hours afterwards. The discernible sign that fertilization is ongoing is the development of two circles in the egg, showed in Figure 1. The slightly smaller circle is the female pronuclear that contributes 23 chromosomes, and the larger circle is the male pronuclear providing another 23 chromosomes to the embryo. It is crucial at this time for the egg to be routinely observed, as in the time of 6 hours, the process of syngamy will occur. This is where the two pronuclei form the two gametes join together, forming 46 chromosomes as on nucleus.

Figure 1
The gametes combining together, 18 hours after fertilisation

Then within these short 6 hours, the egg which has been given 46 chromosomes, would multiply and produce 2 daughter cells. This is already 30 hours after the moment when egg meet sperm. This is shown in Figure 2 where the embryo has two cells already.  Since this division and multiplying of cells occurs every 10-12 hours, most likely on the next day these to cells will multiply itself producing 4 daughter cells; shown in Figure 3. Then on the next day the embryo already consist of 8 cells in total (Figure 4). Then in day 4, the large number of cells that has been produced would be impossible to be counted like the one shown in Figure 5. And finally on the 5^th day after fertilisation, the embryo would create a blastocyst which is a ball of hundreds and hundreds of cells (Figure 6).

Figure 2

Into 30 hours after fertilization, 2 daughter cells formed.

Figure 3

About 48 hours after egg recovery, 4 daughter cells produced.

Figure 4

Day 3. 72 hours after fertilization. A typical embryo with 8 cells already. 

Figure 5

Day 4. A morula or ball of cells is formed, in which the number of cells formed, are just uncountable.

Figure 6

Day 5. A perfectly normal-looking blastocyst in which there are just way too many cells that its very compact, making it look like a liquid.

The Development of Blastocyst During IVF

A blastocyst is an embryo with a ball of uncountable cells that has been grown through IVF in the laboratory dish for after about 5 days or more exactly 120 hours after fertilization. So after fertilization, the embryos are then placed in alaboratory dish with a growth fluid, this process of developing embryos this way is called culturing. In order for a single-cell embryo to grow into a bloastocyst, the laboratory dish containing the embryo and the growth media is put into an incubator where the condition is suiting for the egg to develop.

In the incubator, the embryo is expected to grow healthily through the cell division pathway called mitosis. This is where the single cell embyo would them produce 2 cells, which will then produce 4, and so on and so forth. But during this period, not all embryos make it through till the end. Some might not develop at all and just expire. And some might grow abnormally, or might be fragmented along the way, or even growing at a really slow rate. But whichever’s the reason, it indicates a low potential at giving the mother pregnancy or even for it to be implanted in the womb.

AN example of a slow growing embryo is when by the third day, where it should produce eight cells in total, it instead produce only 2 or 4 cells. This manifest the fact that there are many fragmentation occurring, shown in Figure 7. And an abnormal embryo would be the one with odd number of cells, meaning that the ones with three, five, or seven cells would most likely cause a gene mutation in the chromosomes.

Figure 7
An abnormal and fragmented embryo in the blastocyst stage 

Part 3: Benefits and Limitations of Designer Babies

Benefit #1: Can prevent babies to have incurable diseases

If in a case, in which one of the parents have long carried a gene for an enervative disease, but she/he wanted to have a healthy living baby with their spouse. And say doctors have the ability to remove that undesired gene to prevent the child from continuing the passing down of that illness, those parents would surely accept the offer. This kind of issue is shown in the video shown below is a CNN channel report on how Designer Babies allow the screening of embryos for debilitating illness.

Video 2

Dr.Steinberg talks in CNN News about the advantages of Designer Babies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNdGAFc_45A

To illustrate, there was the couple, Cindy and John Whitley. Their 9 moths-old child dies, because of the incurable disease in her spine. The analysis basically states that this couple has a 1 n 4 chance of conceiving a child with this spinal muscular atrophy disease. So to avoid risking the odds, they decided to use PGD. Which works in corporation with IVF. It stands for Preimplantation Genetic Disease. This is to test and observe the condition of the embryo’s chromosomes, watching out for any disorder in the pairs and types of chromosomes. PGD allows parents to manipulate more than just hampering the disease to develop, but also to predetermine the gender of the baby. So absolutely healthy and fertile couples from all parts of the globe came to doctors, slightly ignoring the expense and discomfort of conceiving in a test tube. All for changing the sex o the baby if they had the opportunity to.

The main benefit of Designer Babies support the goal of this technique which is to pre-screen embryos for health purposes. And the results of this screening is shown in Figure 9, where multiple embryos are developing. To recall, this involves the method of PGD and IVF, to detect if an embryo is prone to have either weakening or even deadly diseases. So PGD analyse DNA, looking for genetic defects, and these kinds of embryo are not to be transplanted, but rather eliminated from the choice of genes available for the baby.

Aside from using PGD, the only other way to detect inherited diseases is through processes called chorionic villus or amniocentesis. But unfortunately these kinds of testing can only be done during pregnancy. In Figure 10, below it shows ta certain specialized cell that is inserted to enhance the abilities and competence of the child.. So if for example, during like 3 months in pregnancy, a couple found out that their child has a debilitating illness. From here, they would have no choice but to accept that their going to have to deal with the consequences of nurturing a disabled child or they have to make the hard decision of whether to abort or not. Therefore PGD prevents this heart-retching scenario to happen.

Figure 9

Several embryos placed on a laboratory dish with a growth fluid, later on screened for diseases

So its safe to say, that PGD solves the problem of course of not being able to produce healthy babies. This applies to couples known to have inheritable diseases and older couples. PGD helps them by eliminating the ill traits and causing the child to live without the medical agony. And it also selects the best embryos with the right structure and number of chromosomes, to cause pregnancy.

Figure 10
Other than PGD, there is the method of Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) which screen embryos after its implanted in the womb

Benefit #2: Genetic Engineering can cause babies to be mentally and physically greater

Without bearing the ethics of this aspect of designer babies, it is actually a gift that it can enhance human for the better. There is the term called genetic enhancement in which as it says for itself, human genes were altered in order to be the “stereotypical successful person”. So in Figure 11, it shows how the cells of embryos are being looked closely, checking for any disorders or disabilities. This matter also involves the transfer of genetic material to modify “mediocre” traits. It is done in attempt to optimize the capabilities and features of an individual. So when the aim is to enhance, the genes might trigger the other genes to work normally or might be added to cause a higher level of productivity. This might utilize the process involving somatic cells or just the gametes.

Figure 11
The transplant of the desired traits into the embryo in order to just let that specific characteristic function as normal or function better than usual

Before genetically engineering humans, scientist of course used animals as test products. They tried to improve traits such as growth rate or muscle mass. The developments from this research specifically, could do way much more than just fix deficiencies. For example, Schwarznegger mice have been injected with a gene that cause faster growth of muscles, and making their bodies to expand in a rapid rate. This in human application, is used to enhance athletic performance and to coax bodies with damaged tissues. 

Limitations #1: The ethical issues of Designer Babies—discarding most of the embryos in order to develop just one out of many

For medical ethicists, the brilliant technique Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) seems to bring many immoral impacts in real life. If an embryo with the genes of an incurable disease is prioritized to be discarded, what if couples are being very demanding and tough, and thus are willing to discard embryo(s) if the gender does not suit their wish. The main purpose of fertility institutes in offering PGD and IVFs are mostly to let parent know the sex of their baby beforehand, so that they could alter it if they don’t want it. Like the different looks of babies shown in Figure 12, where parents not only could alter the sex of their baby but also their complexion, hair type, eye color and structure, ect. So if all parents has the opportunity to do these, what difference would it make in the appearance of babies today. These kind of measures are still very much illegal. But hospitals have a viable reason to do this, and that is for the sake of “family-branching”. Approximately 42% of the patients do it for this reason.  So for instance if a family already had three daughters, and wanted to have a son, or vice versa; of course they would need to genetically select the sex. But some might still use PGD according to their sex preference without no intention of family making at all.

But for whichever reason, it is said that in the US, they’re re actually no official laws against pre-determining the baby’s sex or aborting because of this matter. But then in countries such as China and India, where their culture told them to have a son first and then a daughter; or even for unfortunate families only to have just one son. Pre-selecting the sex of their baby is still illegal as orphanages there are imploding with too many unwanted female babies.

Figure 12
In the US, it is mostly legal to pre-select the sex of the baby and to abort if their baby's sex is opposite to what they want

Limitations #2: Choosing very benign characteristics of the baby beforehand might just be a little out of the line (ethics)

If later in the future scientists are 100% certain that they are able to alter or enhance genes for non-harmful traits such as: the colors of eye and hair, intelligence, complexion; what will be the constraining boundary to stop them from creating the ultimate perfect child. Similiar to the one portrayed by Figure 13, trying to convey the message that the technology that aims to change eye color, muscular ability/strength, hair color, and many more, are still unavailable. Some critics argued that designer babies using the methods of PGD and IVF are very similar to eugenics. Which is the technique of enhancing the human race through monitors of the breeding. According to the social research done by the New York University, it shows that 10% of the respondents are willing to screen their embryos for their athletic ability, another 10% said that they wanted to check for possible/maximum height, and another 13 out of a hundred respondents said that they would pre-select their embryos in the search of the highest rate of intelligence if they could.

The fact that some couples with diseased children wanted to use PGD for the incoming pregnancy such that they would play as an organ donor, is more controversial than other cases. It is understood that parents wants only the best for their child, but this method of pre-selecting embryos, inserting it with enhanced genes of that area, and discarding all unwanted ones, left ethicists thinking that this is over the line.

Figure 13
Designing the perfect baby is harder than it sounds, and even the specified technology to do this hasn't even been created yet

But in truth, the technology for designing the flawless baby with brilliant looks and brain is currently not available yet. As scientists are still figuring out a way to determine the host of genes that is responsible for traits such as their numerical and grammar abilities. The factor of the environment around the individual is also a challenging factor in establishing this undiscovered technology. So as much as parents would love to have a child performing well at every field, some will just have to accept them the way they are as long as they are healthy

Part 4: Factors that might affect the development of Designer Babies

There are many factors that could affect the development of the solution, meaning that in the process of designing babies there are still errors that might ruin the overall success of the final result. Although yes, to recall, designing babies are primarily used to prevent parents from having a child with an extremely awful disease. But the time is closer than we think, where doctors will offer the opportunities to modify other genomes of the embryo. First of all, the genetic alteration program itself might not work as expected. Like parents could order the doctors to put the genes in a female embryo of dark skin, light hair, and blue eyes; but without being predicted the parents could be giving birth to a brunette son. And the worse part is that this is only discovered when the baby is born, thus doctors couldn’t do anything else if this occurs.

Video 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC0jGH7P_fE
The debate on FOX channel discussing how Designer Babies using IVF might not work

IVF cycles after being given all the time, effort, emotional and physical pain, as well as the financial; a lot of things can cause all of this hard work to be put to no vain. As IVF often fails and disappoints clients. Like in Figure 14, where IVF failures might be caused by an abnormal embryo or fragmented blastocyst. To begin with, the egg quality that the whole process is using is probably the most significant factor of all. Because it provides most of the components needed for fertilization, or the development of the embryos. Once an egg is used there is no going back, as soon as the sperm enters the egg, the next phase would be a series of biochemical reactions. Then this causes the male and female pronuclei, which contains the parent’s genetic information, to combine and form the embryo. After this, the single cell embryo would produce daughter cells, in which the original chromosomes would include it to these daughter cells. The pathways, called the mitotic spindles could be the one to blame if hypothetically the chromosomes would separate unconventionally. This might result to the embryo having other than 23 pairs of chromosomes, and thus causing a short-term miscarriage or a merely just a biochemical pregnancy in the lab.  

If the egg is of good quality, the sperm unfortunately might not be, and thus might result to a disordered embryo. The sperm quality involves the criteria that it brings great genetic material. As even if normal sperm semen and movement are available, it might still be abnormal later during fertilization. So this is usually prevented by the Halosperm test. In which it analyze the state of the sperm DNA. But even this test has shown that the utilization of acid still would not cause the broken DNA to disperse. But if for instance the DNA was not broken, then the acid treatment would cause it to disperse and create a series of DNA chromatids around the sperm top. Thus if the sperm is unable to produce a halo of vital ingredients, it is set to have fragmented DNA, which makes it abnormal.

Figure 14
A fine quality of the egg is needed such that the cells would develop normally until it reached the stage of blastocyst, and causing it to lead a successful pregnancy

Another factor that might lead to the failure of IVF is the process in which the embryo is transferred, and this mostly depends on the physician. Shown in Figure 15, the process of transferring embryos includes two basic steps: the removal of embryo from the laboratory dish and finally injecting it into the uterus. When the embryo is transferred smoothly and gently it can prevent the endometrium (the part of the womb that prepares for embryo development) from getting hurt, like by causing it to bleed and have severe cramps. In most fortunate cases, a trial transfer is conducted on a loop in order to acknowledge the location in the uterus where the embryo is going to be implanted. But if a disorder in the uterus id detected and a difficult transfer is known to happen, then doctors could have undertakings to prevent this. For example, if the uterus is sharply tilted after the egg is taken out, a traction stitch could be perform in the cervix area in the womb. Meaning they could perform a surgery in which the cervix would be medically and sustainably pulled to retrieve it to its natural position and for it to function properly. Aside from this method, a transfer catheter—a tube-like device that is inserted to the genitals to remove unwanted fluids, along with the guide from ultrasound could also help the embryo to be inserted in the proper location.

Figure 15
The task of the physician to carefully transfer the embryo is crucial as to not cause any damage to the embryo itself or the uterus

So in conclusion, Designer Babies was a brilliant idea created by scientists and fertility doctors that are at first intended to help ease the job of parents with inherited incurable diseases. Meaning that it is primarily used to help prevent the production of children with such deadly diseases, and trying to decrease the casualty caused by the population of these sort of diseases. The process of dsesigning a perfect, flawless baby is of course not easy and even the technology for altering specific traits isn't even available yet. Even when couples want to prevent their children from having debilitating illness, it is not entirely guaranteed to be productive or successful. But in the latter, the ethicists especially, argues that in a narrow period of time, fertility institutes would be offering parents to alter very benign or non-harmful traits of their baby, such as changing the eye color, hair color, complexion, intelligence, etc. Therefore as many and as miraculous the advantages that Designer Babies bring, it comes with issues which are dominantly related to the ethics or morals of the world.

Works Cited

"Designer Babies: Good Idea or Slippery Slope?" Divine Caroline. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://www.divinecaroline.com/life-etc/designer-babies-good-idea-or-slippery-slope>.

"Genetic Enhancement." Genetic Enhancement. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://www.genome.gov/10004767>.

"Human Genetic Enhancements: A Transhumanist Perspective." Human Genetic Enhancements. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/genetic.html>.

"In Praise of Designer Babies." The American Prospect. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://prospect.org/article/praise-designer-babies>.

"In Praise of Designer Babies." The American Prospect. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://prospect.org/article/praise-designer-babies>.

"IVF Blastocyst Formation and Blastocyst Transfer." IVF Blastocyst Formation and Blastocyst Transfer. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ivf1.com/lab-embryo-culture/>.

"A Layperson's View of Future Technology and Society." Designer Babies. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://www.futureforall.org/bioengineering/designer-babies.html>.

"Screening (for Genetic and Other Disorders) of Embryos and Newborns: Why It Is Important? Read More: Screening (for Genetic and Other Disorders) of Embryos and Newborns: Why It Is Important? Http://www.medindia.net/news/healthwatch/screening-for-genetic-and-other-disorders-of-embryos-and-newborns-95959-1.htm#ixzz3GnKq17iQ." MDE India. N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.medindia.net%2Fnews%2Fhealthwatch%2Fscreening-for-genetic-and-other-disorders-of-embryos-and-newborns-95959-1.htm>.

Velez, Mandy. "The Ethics Of 'Designer Babies'" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/14/ethics-of-designer-babies_n_4966189.html>.