[tri-wings] Re: FYI - CLINICAL TRIAL FOR EARLY, NON-INVASIVE TESTING OF DOWN SYNDROME

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "sharon
> Very informative but how exactly will the circulating fetal cells be
> obtained - is it by way of a 'smear' or 'pap' type test???

No - they test the mothers blood. So when you have one of the many blood 
tests whilst pregnant they will take a little extra and test that. In short 
they separate the baby's cells from the mothers and then test those.
The technology has been there for ages - the problem however has been in 
separating the baby's cells from the mothers. They have been able to do it 
with male baby's (because obviously its easier to differentiate between a 
male karyotype and the mothers female karyotype) just not female. I guess 
they have finally figured it out.

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