A sophisticated type of DNA sequencing could vastly improve the less than 30-per cent chance a woman is given for bearing a child through in vitro fertilisation, researchers will announce on Monday.

By combining whole genome amplification and comparative genomic hybridization, researchers from University College London said that they were able to identify defective chromosomes in human embryos that would likely prevent an embryo from ever fully developing.

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''Chromosomal abnormalities show up in up to 60 per cent of miscarriages of pregnancies under 12 weeks, but that drops to half a percentage point at birth. Chromosomal imbalance is usually lethal,'' said Dr. Dagan Wells, the study's lead investigator.

The study, to be presented at a meeting of the American Society for reproductive medicine, examined 12 embryos, only three of which were completely normal. Nine of the embryos had some kind of abnormality, and three of them contained no normal cells at all.

The researcher added that the ''unprecedented amount of information'' his team was able to gather that from a single cell may eventually have application elsewhere in medicine, such as the identification of genetic changes in cancerous tumours. Bureau Report