Conference Papers

Presentation at COGI Congress, Lisbon, November 2024

Cathy Herbrand (De Montfort University),

Offering expanded carrier screening (ECS) in the UK: do professional and policy stakeholders think it is worthwhile? presented in Oral presentation session 5, Reproductive Genetics, 21 November 2024.

Presentation at Genomics and Society: Critical Perspectives on Commercial DNA Testing, November 2024

Cathy Herbrand (De Montfort University),

The rise of expanded carrier screening as a commercial-only test in the UK. Online workshop run by the DNA Dialogues Network, Monday, November 18th, 2024, July 2024

Poster at UK Preconception Partnership EMCR Conference, DMU, November 2024

Herbrand C., Borry P., Culley L., Fearon K., Hudson N., Miedzybrodzka Z., Norcross S., Parry B., van Steijvoort E.

Could expanded carrier screening (ECS) be offered in a public healthcare setting in the UK? The views of professional and policy stakeholders.

Presentation at ESHRE Amsterdam, July 2024

Cathy Herbrand (De Montfort University),

Offering and regulating expanded carrier screening in the UK: an exciting prospect or a ‘can of worms’? presented in Session 70: Ethics, information, and choice in medically assisted reproduction

Posters and panel talk at ESHG Berlin, 2024

Cathy Herbrand (De Montfort University),

Invited speaker at the workshop ‘GenEthics’ organised by Anneke Lucassen at the European Society of Human Genetics, Berlin, Germany, 2 June 2024.

The team also presented two posters:

Herbrand C., Borry P., Culley L., Fearon K., Hudson N., Miedzybrodzka Z., Norcross S., Parry B., van Steijvoort E., Wilde L. ‘Offering and regulating expanded carrier screening (ECS) in the UK: an exciting prospect in genetic testing or a ‘can of worms’?’ Poster presenter at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics, Berlin, Germany, 3 Jun 2024

Fearon K., Herbrand C., Hudson N., Wilde L., ‘Everyone is a carrier’: A frame and content analysis of preconception expanded carrier screening (ECS) on social media’. Poster presenter at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics, Berlin, Germany, 3 Jun 2024

"IGENE symposium, Abstract summary, Prof Cathy Herbrand: This paper draws on a broader ESRC-funded interdisciplinary project exploring the social, ethical and economic issues surrounding the emergence of ECS in the UK. It will present preliminary findings of interviews conducted with key stakeholders (policy, commercial, patient group, professional) who are involved or have a particular interest in the regulation of reproductive genomic testing in the UK. Combined with a scoping review of policy papers on ECS, it will situate the emergence of ECS as a novel reproductive screening technology within the UK policy and practice landscape and identify the specific issues raised by ECS in this context. It will also explore participants’ positioning regarding the potential future use of ECS in the NHS or as a population screening tool, with particular attention on the tensions these options may raise. Overall, the paper will provide a critical perspective on the governance of this emerging technology in the UK."

Preconception expanded carrier screening in the UK

Cathy Herbrand (De Montfort University), 24 November 2023

Invited speaker at the IGENE symposium Mapping Genetic Screening: Between Public Health and Personalised Medicine, Madrid, Spain.

Exploring attitudes and experiences with reproductive genetic carrier screening among couples seeking medically assisted reproduction: a longitudinal survey study,

Van Steijvoort, E., Cassou, M., De Schutter, C., Dimitriadou, E., Peeters, H., Peeraer, K., Matthijs, G. and Borry, P., 2024. Exploring attitudes and experiences with reproductive genetic carrier screening among couples seeking medically assisted reproduction: a longitudinal survey study. Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, 41(2), pp.451-464.

‘Disease-free imaginaries?
The promises of expanded carrier screening’

C. Herbrand, N. Hudson and K. Fearon, 4S, Honolulu USA, 4-11 November 2023

‘Selectively stratified: the use of expanded carrier screening in the general population’.

C.Herbrand and N.Hudson, 2022.‘Reproductive Futures: Emergent Injustices, Hopes and Paradoxes’, Tampere, Finland