Conceiving a Baby A La Carte, Reality or Fiction?

Till very recently, the idea of conceiving a baby of choice through Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS), based on certain physical appearance, or physical ability was a pure fiction. However, Next Generation Sequencing technology and its use in research and clinical diagnosis are making genome customization a reality. Scientifically speaking, we are not far from being able to customize the DNA make-up of our new generation. For example, it is already common for IVF centers to screening embryos against commons genetic disorders such as Beta-Thalassemia, Cystic Fibrosis, and Down syndrome etc.

Next generation sequencing of human Genome is becoming a common practice in healthcare and clinical research laboratories round the word. Human genome data base and gene function studies are growing at a light speed, with unmatched accuracy.

In PGS, the level of customization is inheritably limited, for example you cannot cheer pick any feature you want, but you can certainly screen for desirable features if they are available among tested embryos. For example, eye color, gender, and predisposition to certain type of cancers, etc. In the near future, as human genome data base grows, and our understanding of gene function improves; we may be able to select features such as height, intelligence, physical ability and more. Technically, the more we know about our genes, the easier genome customization will become, the question is whether it is ethical to introduce biases in our selection of future generations.

From the medical perspective, NGS-based Preimplantation Genetic Screening gives parents a powerful tool to select embryos against any suspicious mutations, and minimize the risk of genetic disease. However, there are a large number of disease causing mutations that are still uncharacterized, therefore difficult to avoid.

The notion of selecting a baby based of non-medical criteria, such as physical strength, intelligence, and sport performance may raise some controversies. If such practice becomes common, we may be creating a society made of super stars, neighboring an under grown society, made of unflavored kids.

In the long, as genome customization becomes more feasible, we may see groups and organizations raise ethical concerns, which if become strong enough, may force the US congress to change the law to stop the controversy. The balance between public opinion and legislator's agenda will draw the map of what is permitted and where technology must stop. Meanwhile, Preimplantation Genetic Screening will continue to grow in the medical field, improving the quality of life of future IVF kids, but as technology pushes hard towards gene discovery, non-medical genome customization may be conceived.


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