Welcome to Making Babies in the 21st Century!

Welcome to the first week of Making Babies!

First we will listen to the stories of people who either seek or provide fertility services online, outside of the regulatory setting.

Creating a new life involves important choices. Here we look at the some of the key ethical issues at stake.

What are the key legal and regulatory issues involved?

Two different views on the relative merits of the regulated and the unregulated fertility sector.

What do you think about the growing practice of social egg freezing?

Introduction to this weeks' topic of social egg freezing.

Kalliope tells her story about why she has chosen to freeze her eggs.

An opportunity to hear from the senior staff at one of London's premier fertility clinics, the CRGH, which works in close collaboration with UCL.

What are the worries that have been voiced about this technology?

Given the above concerns, what are the key ethical implications?

We listen to a broad-ranging conversation between a group of young women facing this choice in their own lives.

What do you think about the merits of social egg freezing?

This week we'll look at fertility treatment using egg and sperm donation, and in particular the role of the donor in the life of the child that is conceived.

Here we meet Lyn and have the opportunity to listen to her story.

A deeper look at the issues involved in donor conception from a range of different perspectives.

What are the key ethical issues involved?

What are the key issues involved?

Differing views on the topic of anonymity and disclosure.

What is your views on anonymity, disclosure and donor-conception?

International surrogacy and the growing international fertility industry

Meet Papiha, a surrogate at the Akanksha Clinic, Gujarat, Northwestern India.

What can research tell us about the practice of international surrogacy?

What are the key ethical issues involved?

What are the key legal issues involved?

Differing views on the topic of cross-border reproductive care and the international fertility industry.

What do you think about the growing practice of international surrogacy?

Exploring the ethics of genetic profiling of embryos and babies in early pregnancy.

How recurrent miscarriage almost made Louise give up hope of conceiving her own children.

Within the context of IVF, cells can be sampled from the embryo in the first few days after conception. Before the embryo is implanted in the woman's womb, the cells can be tested for genetic abnormalities.

Genetic testing in early pregnancy just got an upgrade. It is now possible to test the DNA of the developing fetus by taking a simple blood test from the mother. Will this revolutionise antenatal care?

What are the key ethical issues involved?

What are the key legal and regulatory issues involved?

Differing views on this topic.

Your views on genetic testing of embryos and babies in early pregnancy.

In the final week of the course, we'll examine three ways in which we are starting to edit the human genome.

Rachael has retinoblastoma, a heritable disorder that can cause blindness. Intense research is underway to use gene therapy to limit the effects of this gene error.

A look at the fascinating science of human genome editing

What are the key ethical issues involved human genome editing?

What are the key legal and regulatory issues involved?

Genome editing is now a reality but the question remains: how should it be applied and who is to decide?

What do you think about the prospect of scientists being able to edit the human genome?

Reflect on your learning over the last six weeks of Making Babies