The Center for Reproductive Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, one of the nation’s leading infertility treatment centers, will present a live internet broadcast that will cover the latest in vitro fertilization techniques, including preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).
Wake Forest Baptist is the only medical center in the Southeast offering on-site in vitro fertilization and PGD for both single-gene defects and aneuploidy, a condition in which an embryo has the wrong number of chromosomes. The Medical Center also offers PGD services for other clinics.
About the Webcast
The webcast – at 5 p.m. on Nov. 1 – will demonstrate the latest IVF techniques and focus on PGD, which can identify embryos with genetic defects that cause conditions such as sickle-cell anemia, Tay-Sachs disease, and cystic fibrosis. Another PGD technique known as fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) is the testing method used for women who have a history of recurrent miscarriages and for advanced maternal-age patients, in which entire chromosomes are “counted.”
Program hosts will be Jeffrey Deaton, M.D., director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine, David Wininger, Ph.D., IVF lab director, and Patrick Koty, Ph.D., co-director of the medical genetics laboratory. The one-hour program will include narrative and video of the main procedures, discussion by Drs. Deaton, Wininger, and Koty, and an interview with parents who have gone through the process. Viewers may email questions to be answered during the live broadcast.
The webcast is available for viewing by the general public as well as medical professionals. Physicians who will be interested in the broadcast include ob/gyn, IVF, reproductive specialists, primary care, women’s health and pediatricians. The program will also be useful for genetic counselors, imaging specialists and prospective parents.