Chromosome Probes At The University Of Toronto

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be available to all pregnant women who wish to take advantage of
the technology.

Current prenatal testing involves growing fetal cells in vitro and
examining them, over one or two months, to see if there are two copies of
a particular chromosome, which is normal, or one or three, which is
abnormal. A test using Willard's probes would require only a few cells and
a few days to detect abnormalities. "I don't think it's beyond the realm
of possibility that these kinds of tests could eventually be done by an
obstetrician in the office during the early stages of pregnancy," he adds.


The determination of gender is another possible use for the probes. Many
diseases, such as Duschene's muscular dystrophy, show up on the X
chromosome, manifesting only in boys. Willard thinks it is possible to
develop a test which would quickly indicate the fetus' sex. This would
benefit parents whose only option is to have no children or to have only
girls.

Confirming gender in children with ambiguous ...

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