New single-cell prenatal blood test can identify genetic abnormalities

(Elsevier) Non-invasive prenatal tests (NIPTs) are used for fetal genetic disease screening in pregnant women. In contrast, invasive tests like amniocentesis carry the risk of causing fetal harm. A report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published by Elsevier, describes the development of a single-cell DNA assessment method with high sensitivity and specificity. This noninvasive test enables direct extraction of genetic information from live fetal cells for simultaneous evaluation, there...