Yesterday the public was made aware of a new breakthrough in the fight against Alzheimer's after doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston successfully replicated the disease in a petri dish.
Alzheimer's currently effects more than 5 million Americans, and by the year 2050, almost two thirds of people age 85 or older are expected to have some form of the disease. But today, scientists have taken another large step forward in their efforts to fight against the debilitating illness.
Using a procedure called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), doctors in Chicago can now allow parents to choose a child without Alzheimer's. Under the PGD procedure, doctors can prevent a woman with a family history of early onset Alzheimer's disease from passing on any chromosomes that could be Alzheimer's carriers onto her child.
Dr. Lana Rechitsky is a PGD and IVF lab director at Reproductive Genetic Innovations in Northbrook, Illinois which has been driving this research.