This presentation Is about how the embryos are genetically modified to prevent the from a genetic disease or in some cases also used for enhancement of beauty or intelligence. The pros and cons of Designer babies and the ethical issues related to them. This presentation also describes how the designer babies are formed.

2. If you had the ability to
tinker with the genetics of
your baby, would you?
What if you could prevent
a hereditary disease? Might
it become ‘unethical’ to
NOT correct genetic
errors?

3. DESIGNER BABY
Babies who are “designed” through a
genetic modification process are called
designer babies. Genes play a major role in
our life, If the genes of an embryo are
altered using technology, adding in desired
characteristics and taking away the
undesired ones, then the resulting embryo
will have a genetic makeup that has been
engineered through gene therapy.

4. REASONS FOR THE FORMATION OF
DESIGNER BABIES
 The specific genetic disease will be
screened beforehand.
 By editing the DNA of these cells or
the embryo itself (germline
engineering), it could be possible to
correct disease genes and pass those
genetic fixes on to future
generations.
 Such a technology could be used to
rid families of scourges like cystic
fibrosis and muscular dystrophy.

5. TYPES OF DESIGNING BABIES
Germline engineering
 Germline genetic modification is a
form of genetic engineering which
involves changing genes in eggs,
sperm, or very early embryos. This
of engineering is inheritable, meaning
that the modified genes would appear
not only in any children that resulted
from the procedure, but in all
succeeding generations.
Pre-implantation Genetic
Diagnosis
 Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
(PGD or PIGD) is the genetic profiling
of embryos prior to implantation (as a
form of embryo profiling), and
sometimes even of oocytes prior to
fertilization. PGD is considered in a
similar fashion to prenatal diagnosis.

6. CREATION OF DESIGNER BABIES
 Since 2004, we know the whole
human DNA by the Human
Genome Project. With increasing
computer power it was possible to
read all the base pairs (about 3.2
billion for one DNA copy), which
are the basic modules in the
blueprint of life.

7. CREATION OF DESIGNER BABIES (CONTINUED)
A map is used to find the exact place
where it’s supposed to cut. After
having localized the region on the
DNA, the defective part is replaced
by cutting it out. That’s where Cas9
comes into play. Cas9 is a pair of
DNA-scissors that cuts (dissolves) the
connection between the elements of
the DNA backbone.

8. CREATION OF DESIGNER BABIES (CONTINUED)
After Cas9 has successfully found
and cut the target region, the
defective part of the DNA needs
to be changed. For this step,
scientists take advantage of the
body’s repair mechanism called
HDR (homology directed repair).
Each cell uses the HDR
mechanism to repair breaks in its
DNA.

9. CREATION OF DESIGNER BABIES (CONTINUED)
 HDR uses a protein complex similar to
Cas9. This protein complex is kind of a
DNA glue. However, it not only glues
together the free ends of the DNA strands
but also replaces the adjacent area in the
DNA based on an intact template of the
whole region. The reason for this is that
the area around the breakage could also
be damaged and thus it’s safer to replace
it at the same time.

10. CREATION OF DESIGNER BABIES (CONTINUED)
 Scientists produce a lot of DNA strand
fragments that exactly match the area
around the breakage. But some parts are
different containing new or altered
information. They sneak a lot of these
manipulated DNA fragments into the cell.
 when HDR looks for a template to fix the cut
in the DNA strand, it will most certainly take
one of these matching but modified
fragments the scientists snuck in because the
area around the breakage is surrounded by
them.

11. BENEFITS OF DESIGNER BABIES
 Longer life: When a baby is genetically modify a baby, it means
that the defective genes are been taken out. Theoretically these
babies live a healthier life with fewer chances of illness. According
to studies, this can add up to 30 years to a child’s life expectancy.
 No genetic disorders: There are a number of illness people catch
due to genetic disorders. These include Alzheimer’s disease,
muscular atrophy, Down syndrome etc. Genetic modification
reduces the chances of child being impacted by many such genetic
problems.
 No hereditary disorders: Often, many health conditions such as
diabetes, cancer, obesity, heart ailments are inherited from either
of the parents’ families. Knowing the family history in advance will
help genetic scientists to remove the problematic genes in
question from the embryo.

12. PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH DESIGNER
BABIES
 Possibility of damage to the gene pool.
 Genes often have more than one use.
 Most of the work done are still in
experimental stages.
 Only the rich can afford it.
 Termination of embryos.

13. NEW DISCOVERIES RELATED TO BABIES
 Making Babies With More Than Two People: This April, the world’s first
baby was born from a new procedure that combines the DNA of three
people. Nuclear DNA came from a mother and a father, and mitochondrial
DNA was transferred into the fertilized egg from a third donor.
 Making Babies Without Eggs: Scientists out of the University of Bath say
early experiments suggest it may one day be possible to make babies
without using eggs. They have succeeded in creating healthy baby mice by
tricking sperm into believing they were fertilizing normal eggs. In this
scenario, two men could have a child, with one donating an ordinary cell
and the other donating sperm. Or one man could have his own child using
his own cells and sperm, with that child being more like a non-identical twin
than a clone.
 Artificial Wombs: In the mid-1990s, Japanese investigators succeeded in
maintaining goat fetus for weeks in a machine containing artificial amniotic
fluid. Today, it is possible for a preterm fetus to survive when removed from
the mother at a gestational age of slightly less than 22 weeks. That’s only a
little more than halfway through the pregnancy (normally 40 weeks).

14. DISADVANTAGES PEOPLE TAKE THROUGH
GENETIC ENGINEERING
 Some people want to have designer
babies for non-medical reasons.
They can decide the hair color, sex,
intelligence, athletic ability and
cosmetic traits by having the
proposed application of pre-
implantation.
 It has been possible for the parents
to select the sex of the baby since it
involves with the X and Y
chromosomes.

15. ETHICS RELATED TO DESIGNER BABIES
 Religious leaders have raised objections over
physicians and others “playing God.” The Catholic
Church insists that human beings are — or must be
— “begotten, not made.” But there are concerns not
only about the ultimate questions of the nature and
meaning of life.
 Secular thinkers also worry that technology is giving
some decision makers a degree of control over
human lives, and indeed the human future for which
they are not adequately prepared.
 Governments could engineer children to win
Olympic medals, be better soldiers, be compliant
workers or be brilliant scientists.