Dr Alexis Heng Boon Chin is an associate professor of Biomedical Science at Peking University, China. He had previously worked in the field of human clinical assisted reproduction research in Singapore, and has authored 50 international journal publications on ethical and legal issues relating to new reproductive technologies, in addition to also having published more than 250 scientific journal articles.
We are facing a brave new world with artificial womb technology (AWT). This refers to bioengineered systems for the gestation of human offspring outside the human body (technically known as ectogenesis or ectogestation), which promises to be a life-saving technology for extremely premature new-born babies.
Date posted: 2024-01-02
In a recent amendment of regulations on assisted reproduction services, the Singapore Ministry of Health explicitly banned elective sperm freezing without a medical indication. This was a highly unusual move - for better or for worse, there do not seem to be any other developed countries which ban sperm freezing.
Date posted: 2023-09-01
One solution may be to ban fertility clinics and doctors from controlling the distribution of donated frozen eggs from their former EEF patients to other patients in need. Instead, this would be better managed by a government-run centralized egg donor registry and waiting list of prospective recipient patients, which will thus ensure more equitable distribution of altruistically-donated frozen eggs.
Date posted: 2023-07-29
The Singapore government recently announced that the age limit for egg freezing would be extended from 35 to 37 years of age.
Date posted: 2023-06-04
Currently in Malaysia, many fertility clinics strongly encourage and even push their patients to do highly expensive preimplantation genetic testing of their IVF embryos, technically referred to as PGT-A or PGS.
Date posted: 2023-05-19
Unlike serious safety issues with human genome editing, there are minimal risks involved in polygenic testing and selection of IVF embryos, because there are no permanent man-made genetic modifications that would be passed down to future generations.
Date posted: 2023-04-05