Third Generation IVF: Eugenics 'New Weapon'

China is the world's most populous country and a country with a high incidence of birth defects. Birth defects are not only a serious public health problem, but also a social problem affecting economic development and people's normal lives. At present, the high incidence of birth defects has become one of the important reasons that threaten the quality of China's birth population. However, with the continuous development of medical technology, some birth defects and genetic diseases can be prevented early by medical means before pregnancy, so as to minimize the birth of children with genetic defects. This technology is the third generation of IVF technology we know today.

Ni Yali, director of the Reproductive Medicine Center of Gansu Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital, introduced that the third generation of IVF technology refers to preimplantation genetic testing, also known as PGT. This technology first combines sperm and egg to form a fertilized egg, and then tests in the embryo on day 5, and the normal embryo is tested for transfer, which is actually equivalent to doing a physical examination of the embryo and eliminating the abnormal embryo. Through such a technology, it is possible to effectively block or prevent the birth of genetic diseases.

"PGT technology can be divided into three types according to the different indications targeted and the different genetic testing methods taken, including: PGT-A, PGT-SR, and PGT-M." Wang Zhiqiang, an embryology researcher at the Reproductive Medicine Center of Gansu Provincial Maternal and Child Health Hospital, added.

Among them, PGT-A is a preimplantation aneuploidy screening technology, which is mainly aimed at fertility abnormalities caused by aneuploidy of embryos such as advanced age, recurrent miscarriage and repeated implantation failure. PGT-SR is mainly aimed at abnormalities in the chromosomes of embryos such as equilibrium translocation, Robertson translocation, and inversion.

PGT-M technology is currently the most important means to implement the prevention and treatment of birth defects and reduce the birth of children with genetic defects, and it is also the most effective first-level preventive measure for single-gene genetic diseases.

Single-gene disease refers to a disease affected by a pair of alleles, which will have different degrees of manifestations in the fertility process, such as the risk of stillbirth, stillbirth or fetal malformations, and birth defects. "If it is not stopped, then the disease may be passed on from generation to generation in this family." Director Ni Yali pointed out.

Birth defects are an important factor affecting the quality of the birth population, currently through the PGT technology to block the transmission of genetic diseases, in the prevention of birth defects, improve the quality of the birth population has played a very large role, I believe that through the continuous development of medical careers and the continuous efforts of the majority of medical workers, we will eventually be able to reduce birth defects to a low enough level, reduce the burden of diseases in the family and society.