#125 Infertility Series: Nick Charles on Controversies

Podcast Award Nominations begin July 1st, 2020! Please help DNA Today receive a fourth nomination (and hopefully a win this year!) by visiting PodcastAwards.com and selecting “DNA Today” in the Science and Medicine category. We can only receive a nomination if YOU nominate the show!

This episode concludes DNA Today’s 7 part infertility series. The first episode kicked off with Lauren Isley who shared about fertility genetic counseling. The next two episodes featured a couple who went through reciprocal IVF to have their daughters (part 1 and 2). Filmmakers of fertility movie ANYA joined the show next. Dr. Kara Goldman followed discussing diagnostic fertility testing. Last episode, Genetic Counselor Jennifer Eccles explained the science behind PGT for polygenic conditions.

This seventh and final infertility installment explores controversies surrounding fertility with genetic counselor and genetics podcast host, Nick Charles. He is the lead laboratory and quality control counselor at CooperSurgical, a preimplantation genetic testing lab. Prior to working in a laboratory position, he was a prenatal and reproductive genetic counselor at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, counseling patients with high-risk pregnancies and/or fertility issues in the Maternal Fetal Medicine practice. He earned his bachelor’s degree in pre-med biology from the University of Scranton and his master’s in human genetics and genetic counseling from Sarah Lawrence College.

This episode is also one of our crossovers with another genetics podcast. So be sure to hear the other half of our conversation on Nick’s show, Gene Therapy Podcast. Roles are flipped on his show where Nick interviews Kira about how to utilize social media to learn about genetic counseling, and to network and build a career.

Sponsoring this episode is Advanced Tele-Genetic Counseling (AT-GC) which provides virtual appointments to meet with a certified genetic counselor. These one-on-one conversations can help you understand how your own genetics may play a role in your health including fertility. Access to healthcare should not be dependent on where you live, which is why ATGC was founded! You can schedule your telehealth appointment directly on their website.

On This Episode We Discuss:

Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT)

Appropriate situations and where the line begins to blur

Medical guidelines and recommendations

Mosaic Embryos:

Potential health concerns

Regulations around implantation

Situations to select and implant

Success rate of pregnancies

Current and future research

Don’t forget to hear the other half of our conversation on Nick’s show, Gene Therapy Podcast. Just search Gene Therapy podcast in our podcast player or listen on his website. Keep up with the show by following on Twitter and Instagram.

Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today. New episodes are released on the first and third Friday of the month (with some bonus episodes thrown in there like this one)! In the meantime, you can listen to 125 episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or streaming on the website.

See what else we are up to on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and iTunes. Questions/inquiries can be sent to info@DNApodcast.com.