THE CONFERENCE

Welcome to the 1^st regional Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) conference held in Bahrain!

Al-Jawhara Centre (AJC) is a specialized center in Molecular Medicine with a particular interest in Genetics and Inherited Diseases providing clinical services, molecular diagnostics and research.

The AJC vision is to be: “a leading molecular medicine centre, uniquely positioned to serve the health needs of the GCC citizens, and globally recognized for excellence in research and development, clinical services and health education”.

Within this vision lies one of the major strategic missions of the AJC which is the establishment of a PGD unit for providing sophisticated PGD procedures at international standards to be a referral lab from across the region.

PGD is a practice used before implantation of the embryo in order to categorize genetic defects within embryos made via in vitro fertilization (IVF) to prevent certain diseases from passing to the child in couples whom are at risk of passing on a genetic disease (ex Sickle Cell Disease & β-Thalassemia). The procedure begins with the normal process of IVF that includes egg retrieval and fertilization in a laboratory, followed around 3 days later, by removal of one cell from the embryo to be tested for that specific inherited gene abnormality. Only embryos that do not carry the detected disorder will be implanted thereafter.

This conference will cover all aspects of Reproductive Medicine leading to PGD hoping to have the coming generation free of inherited genetic diseases.

I hope you enjoy the conference and your stay in Bahrain!