Sensitive sensor detects Down syndrome DNA
Wednesday, February 13, 2019 - 09:53
in Health & Medicine
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Down syndrome is the most common birth defect, occurring once in every 700 births. However, traditional non-invasive prenatal tests for the condition are unreliable or carry risks for the mother and fetus. Now, researchers have developed a sensitive new biosensor that could someday be used to detect fetal Down syndrome DNA in pregnant women's blood. They report their results in the ACS journal Nano Letters.