Chapters:
1:45 Should we be sequencing children at birth?
8:00 BabySeq wasn’t initially set up to search for adult-onset findings, but a single case led to a change in protocol.
19:00 “If you get this type of information about your perfect little newborn child, what does it do in terms of your parenting of that child… and your psychosocial well-being?”
27:00 BabySeq Two is in the works.
36:00 Based on what we know now, is it wrong NOT to offer genome sequencing of babies to everyone?
NOTE: clever listeners may realize that when Laura mentions the book “Waiting for Prozac” She is actually referring to the 1980’s classic, “Listening to Prozac.” Kudos to them!
Today the Beagle welcomes Amy McGuire, Professor of Biomedical Ethics and Director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine. Amy, a nationally-recognized expert in the legal and ethical issues associated with genomic medicine, joins Laura to discuss BabySeq and the high-risk, high-reward prospect of making genome sequencing of newborns routine. After a preliminary study many years in the making, Amy is here to assure us of one thing: “what we’re doing isn’t Gattaca.” Also, the take-home message: sequencing healthy babies does not seem, in this initial sample, to increase parental distress or interfere with parent-child bonding.
