Season 1

Episode 2: How DNA Testing is Shaking Up the Sperm Banking Industry

Episode Summary

In this episode of Genetic Frontiers, Katie Lee Hornberger, a certified genetic counselor with the Seattle Sperm Bank talks about how genetic testing has shaken up the sperm banking industry. DNA testing has changed everything, forcing the industry to move from a paradigm that prized anonymity towards one of greater transparency about biological relationships, genetic risks, and family medical history.

KEY TOPICS

Introduction to the sperm banking industry
Introduction to Katie Lee Hornberger, CGC
How has genetic testing changed the sperm banking industry?
What types of genetic or health conditions rule out a person's ability to be a donor?
Do you test donors for CADASIL, for example? If you don’t, how do you explain to potential recipients that donors may have unknown genetic risks?
How would you describe the culture of risk within the gamete donor community?
Not allowing some groups of men to donate sperm could be viewed as discriminatory or eugenic, so why do sperm banks have these limitations in place and what they mean for families who are using sperm to form their families?
Given our ever-changing understanding of people’s genetic risks, what do you see as the future of spermaking and sperm donation?
Following the legal trend towards greater openness and transparency in sharing genetic and medical information with donor-conceived people, what does this mean practically for places like the Seattle Sperm Bank?
What, if any, relationship do sperm bank recipients continue to have with the sperm bank after donation?
Do sperm banks conduct a genetic screening on sperm bank recipients, ie, the women who use sperm donations to try to conceive?
How does the sperm bank handle the situation when a donor-conceived child is later found to have a genetic condition?
How are sibling limitations supposed to work?
Wrap-up