Within a few decades, prospective parents could be able to choose between embryos with different risks of disease and other traits, the Associated Press writes.
"The majority of babies of people who have good health coverage will be conceived this way," Stanford University's Henry Greely tells the AP.
In particular, Greely says a recent advance in mice in which researchers have been able to turn non-germ cells into sperm or eggs could have ramifications for human reproduction. Rather than be limited by the number of eggs that could be harvested, prospective parents could have dozens of embryos to choose from to implant and that those embryos would undergo genetic screening to reveal their disease susceptibilities as well as other traits, the AP says.
However, Reproductive Medicine Associates' Richard Scott tells the AP that these predictions might not really indicate how a child will turn out, especially as the epigenome as well as the child's later exposures and experiences also play a role. In addition, Louanne Hudgins, also of Stanford, says some parents aren't necessarily interested in knowing even currently available screening as they say it's "in God's hands."