Genetic technology used to comb mother's blood for fetal DNA

sea-maid submitted, created time 2 months 4 weeks (www.nature.com)

A blood test that uses next-generation sequencing technology that can identify tiny amounts of fetal DNA floating around in the mother's blood could one day replace more invasive methods as a prenatal test for Down's syndrome and other chromosomal disorders, researchers say.

At present, the two means of pre-natal testing for Down's syndrome, amniocentesis and chorionic villi sampling, both carry a slight risk of miscarriage.

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