DNA Today has just wrapped up their infertility series which started in April, coinciding with infertility awareness week. Over the last 7 episodes, we have heard from experts in fertility, from genetic counsellors, a couple who went through IVF and filmmakers who produced a science fiction movie on fertility.
Episode one introduced us to Lauren Isley, a genetic counsellor who specialises in fertility and assisted reproductive technologies (ART). The episode covers the roles of a genetic counsellor for fertility, fertility technology options, carrier screening, IVF and more.
The second and third episodes brought us personal insights from Katie and Christina Bailey, who share their journey to parenthood through reciprocal In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). Throughout the episodes, host Kira Dineen and the couple discuss choosing a sperm donor, hormones for IVF, the techniques for fertilisation, genetic testing during pregnancy and direct-to-consumer genetic testing to find biological relatives.
Tuning into the fourth episode in the series will allow you to hear from Jacob Okada and anthropologist Carylanna Taylor, who wrote and produced a fictional film about fertility called ANYA. Hear more about the ANYA film synopsis, scientifically accurate scriptwriting and inclusivity in science fiction films.
In the fifth episode, Dr Kara Goldman, the Medical Director of Fertility Preservation at Northwestern Fertility Reproductive Medicine, shares her experience in diagnostic fertility testing. In this episode, Kira and Kara discuss when to pursue fertility testing, which tests to order, causes of infertility and implications of balanced translocation carriers.
Kira then catches up with Jennifer Eccles in episode six, who is the Head of Genetic Counselling at Genomic Prediction Clinical Laboratory. In this episode, they discuss types of pre-implantation genetic testing, including those for Polygenic conditions (PGT-P), cost and insurance and genetic counselling.
Wrapping up the series, Kira speaks to Nick Charles, a fellow genetic counsellor and podcast host of the “Gene Therapy Podcast”. Nick is the lead laboratory and quality control counsellor at CooperSurgical, a preimplantation genetic testing lab and together they discuss controversies surrounding fertility.
Listen to the full series at DNApodcast.com.
Over the past 9 years, DNA Today has produced 125 episodes exploring genetic concepts like genetic counselling, CRISPR and genetic testing. Host Kira Dineen interviews experts in the field like award-winning New York Times columnist and author Carl Zimmer.
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