Yury Verlinsky
Encyclopedia
Yury Verlinsky was a Russian-American medical researcher specializing in embryo
and cellular genetics
(genetic cytology
.) He is best known as a pioneer in prenatal diagnosis
for detecting genetic and chromosomal disorders six weeks earlier than standard amniocentesis
. The founding father of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and embryo analysis prior to in-vitro fertilization (IVF), Verlinsky used his polar body biopsy technique to detect potential birth defects in offspring. It is now accepted worldwide as the standard for the most efficient and effective means of analyzing the chromosomal status of an embryo.
With the help of his research, P.G.D. can be used to prevent more than 200 different genetic disorders and diseases, including hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, Fanconi anemia
, Alzheimer’s disease, Cystic fibrosis
, thalassemia
, Down syndrome
, Tay-Sachs disease
, and Muscular dystrophy
, and Huntington's disease
.
, Siberia
, in the former Soviet Union
, one of two sons of Simon and Dora Verlinsky. His mother was an accountant and his father was a disabled veteran of the Soviet Army. He received his Ph.D. in embryology
and cytogenetics
from Kharkov University, in the Ukrainian SSR
, in 1973. While there, he met his wife Luba, a biologist. They married in 1967.
, who later co-founded Google
, Inc.
in Chicago
, Illinois, where he ran the cytogenetics
laboratory. When asked how he so easily obtained the position, he replied "of my previous experience and because a chromosome in any language is a chromosome and a microscope is a microscope." He took time outside of his job to work at identifying chromosome polymorphism
s in Down syndrome families and also to analyze chorionic villus sampling. His goal was to develop a modified technique for performing chromosomal analysis. His research was even more difficult since, like all Soviet emigres, he was not allowed to have contact with colleagues back home.
One such friend and colleague that he lost contact with was Anver Kuliev, with whom he had done research when he was still in Moscow
. They had worked together developing a prenatal test that could be administered earlier than amniocentesis
, with the goal of allowing a woman to avoid a second-trimester abortion. Years later, after Verlinsky had settled in the U.S., he was in London
for a scientific meeting and discovered that Kuliev was working in the Soviet Union as head of genetics for the World Health Organization
(WHO). Verlinsky contacted him, they met in Geneva
in 1982, and soon after they began working together, again doing embryonic and genetic research. Kuriev would later become director of the Reproductive Genetics Institute that Verlinsky established in 1990.
Verlinsky was an expert in pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, which is the genetic testing and chromosome analysis of embryo
s before they are transferred to a woman’s uterus
with in-vitro fertilization (IVF.) His research expanded the applications of earlier prenatal and embryonic testing methods to allow doctors to understand the health and future of fetus
es.
His diagnostic techniques have become widely accepted and are routinely used by prospective parents, especially couples with a history of genetic abnormalities or where the woman is over the age of 35, when the risk of genetically-related disorders is higher. As the tests could be performed up to six weeks earlier than amniocentesis
, which uses a technique called chorionic villus sampling, the prospective parents were often more comfortable considering an abortion
if any major abnormalities or risk factors were discovered. In addition, by allowing parents to select an embryo without known genetic disorders, they also had the potential of saving the lives of siblings that already had similar disorders and diseases.
painting in a Jerusalem art gallery." He observed that the painting showed "two disks, one red and one yellow, floating in space, with a small, round black object under the red one." The disks reminded him of human eggs, with one changing into the other by ejecting the black object. "In a flash of insight," he took out a business card and wrote "polar bodies" on the back of it.
A Polar body is a cell structure found inside an ovum, which includes the package of chromosomes ejected by the egg before fertilization by sperm. Verlinsky's "insight" was that he could analyze the polar body to look for certain genetic defects in the resulting egg. This approach was useful when both parents were carriers of a genetic defect. He found that by using only eggs with the healthy version of the gene, "the child would be protected even if the father passed on the mutated version," and as a result, his approach produced many healthy pregnancies. He later found that a single cell could be removed from an early fertilized egg without disturbing subsequent development, and it can then be used for genetic diagnosis.
In 2000, his technique became notable when it helped the parents of Molly Nash, a child who suffered from life-threatening Fanconi anemia, conceive a son without the disease and whose cells were later used to save Molly's life. In 2002, his method also helped a mother, whose genetic diagnosis showed a likelihood of getting Alzheimer's disease, conceive a daughter who was free of the gene. The case was declared a "medical milstone" as the first use of genetic testing to prevent an early onset form of Alzheimer's disease.
to determine genetic defect risks and to allow the use of stem cells from newborns to treat other diseased family members. Dr. Andrew La Barbera, the scientific director for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said that Verlinsky's research had a "far-reaching impact on reproductive medicine" and he was a "giant in the field" by enabling couples to have children free of genetic diseases and making his methods "available to clinics around the world." "If it wasn't for Yury," said Dr. Jamie Grifo, program director at the New York University Fertility Center, "who knows how far this field would have come?"
of colon cancer on July 16, 2009, at the age of 65. He is survived by his wife, Luba, a son, Oleg, his brother, Vitaly, and three grandchildren.
Embryonic
Embryonic received general acclaim from critics upon release, garnering a 81/100 critic score on Metacritic. The New Musical Express noted that "ten years after their last masterpiece, The Flaming Lips have finally produced another one," while Paste Magazine described the record as "a wonderfully...
and cellular genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
(genetic cytology
Cell biology
Cell biology is a scientific discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level...
.) He is best known as a pioneer in prenatal diagnosis
Prenatal diagnosis
Prenatal diagnosis or prenatal screening is testing for diseases or conditions in a fetus or embryo before it is born. The aim is to detect birth defects such as neural tube defects, Down syndrome, chromosome abnormalities, genetic diseases and other conditions, such as spina bifida, cleft palate,...
for detecting genetic and chromosomal disorders six weeks earlier than standard amniocentesis
Amniocentesis
Amniocentesis is a medical procedure used in prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal abnormalities and fetal infections, in which a small amount of amniotic fluid, which contains fetal tissues, is sampled from the amnion or amniotic sac surrounding a developing fetus, and the fetal DNA is examined for...
. The founding father of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and embryo analysis prior to in-vitro fertilization (IVF), Verlinsky used his polar body biopsy technique to detect potential birth defects in offspring. It is now accepted worldwide as the standard for the most efficient and effective means of analyzing the chromosomal status of an embryo.
With the help of his research, P.G.D. can be used to prevent more than 200 different genetic disorders and diseases, including hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, Fanconi anemia
Fanconi anemia
Fanconi anemia is a genetic disease with an incidence of 1 per 350,000 births, with a higher frequency in Ashkenazi Jews and Afrikaners in South Africa.FA is the result of a genetic defect in a cluster of proteins responsible for DNA repair...
, Alzheimer’s disease, Cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis is a recessive genetic disease affecting most critically the lungs, and also the pancreas, liver, and intestine...
, thalassemia
Thalassemia
Thalassemia is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disease that originated in the Mediterranean region. In thalassemia the genetic defect, which could be either mutation or deletion, results in reduced rate of synthesis or no synthesis of one of the globin chains that make up hemoglobin...
, Down syndrome
Down syndrome
Down syndrome, or Down's syndrome, trisomy 21, is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. It is named after John Langdon Down, the British physician who described the syndrome in 1866. The condition was clinically described earlier in the 19th...
, Tay-Sachs disease
Tay-Sachs disease
Tay–Sachs disease is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder...
, and Muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal system and hamper locomotion. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who...
, and Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease, chorea, or disorder , is a neurodegenerative genetic disorder that affects muscle coordination and leads to cognitive decline and dementia. It typically becomes noticeable in middle age. HD is the most common genetic cause of abnormal involuntary writhing movements called chorea...
.
Early years and education
Verlinsky was born in IshimIshim
Ishim is a town in the south of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. Population: -History:It was founded in 1670 as the village of Korkina Sloboda. In 1721 by the order of Tsar Peter the Great the village gained the right to establish Nikolskaya Trade Fair which rapidly became one of the most important trade...
, Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, in the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, one of two sons of Simon and Dora Verlinsky. His mother was an accountant and his father was a disabled veteran of the Soviet Army. He received his Ph.D. in embryology
Embryology
Embryology is a science which is about the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage...
and cytogenetics
Cytogenetics
Cytogenetics is a branch of genetics that is concerned with the study of the structure and function of the cell, especially the chromosomes. It includes routine analysis of G-Banded chromosomes, other cytogenetic banding techniques, as well as molecular cytogenetics such as fluorescent in situ...
from Kharkov University, in the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
, in 1973. While there, he met his wife Luba, a biologist. They married in 1967.
Emigrating to the United States
After graduating with his Ph.D., he submitted research proposals which were all rejected by government committees. He chose to emigrate to the United States when the Soviet government continued to refuse his requests to fund further research into P.G.D., a field in which he was an early practitioner. This became difficult as he was forced to pay back the cost of his education before receiving his exit visa, which required that he borrow money from friends. He eventually left for the United States with his wife, their nine year old son, and just "two suitcases." He arrived in 1979, one of the many thousands of other Soviet Jews that were allowed to leave that same year, including a young Sergey BrinSergey Brin
Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin is a Russian-born American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the largest internet companies. , his personal wealth is estimated to be $16.7 billion....
, who later co-founded Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Inc.
Genetics researcher
Soon after arriving, he was offered a research position with the Michael Reese HospitalMichael Reese Hospital
Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center was an American hospital founded in 1881. In its heyday, it was a major research and teaching hospital and one of the oldest and largest hospitals in Chicago, Illinois. It was located on the near south side of Chicago, next to Lake Shore Drive Michael...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois, where he ran the cytogenetics
Cytogenetics
Cytogenetics is a branch of genetics that is concerned with the study of the structure and function of the cell, especially the chromosomes. It includes routine analysis of G-Banded chromosomes, other cytogenetic banding techniques, as well as molecular cytogenetics such as fluorescent in situ...
laboratory. When asked how he so easily obtained the position, he replied "of my previous experience and because a chromosome in any language is a chromosome and a microscope is a microscope." He took time outside of his job to work at identifying chromosome polymorphism
Polymorphism (biology)
Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words, the occurrence of more than one form or morph...
s in Down syndrome families and also to analyze chorionic villus sampling. His goal was to develop a modified technique for performing chromosomal analysis. His research was even more difficult since, like all Soviet emigres, he was not allowed to have contact with colleagues back home.
One such friend and colleague that he lost contact with was Anver Kuliev, with whom he had done research when he was still in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. They had worked together developing a prenatal test that could be administered earlier than amniocentesis
Amniocentesis
Amniocentesis is a medical procedure used in prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal abnormalities and fetal infections, in which a small amount of amniotic fluid, which contains fetal tissues, is sampled from the amnion or amniotic sac surrounding a developing fetus, and the fetal DNA is examined for...
, with the goal of allowing a woman to avoid a second-trimester abortion. Years later, after Verlinsky had settled in the U.S., he was in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for a scientific meeting and discovered that Kuliev was working in the Soviet Union as head of genetics for the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO). Verlinsky contacted him, they met in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
in 1982, and soon after they began working together, again doing embryonic and genetic research. Kuriev would later become director of the Reproductive Genetics Institute that Verlinsky established in 1990.
Verlinsky was an expert in pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, which is the genetic testing and chromosome analysis of embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
s before they are transferred to a woman’s uterus
Uterus
The uterus or womb is a major female hormone-responsive reproductive sex organ of most mammals including humans. One end, the cervix, opens into the vagina, while the other is connected to one or both fallopian tubes, depending on the species...
with in-vitro fertilization (IVF.) His research expanded the applications of earlier prenatal and embryonic testing methods to allow doctors to understand the health and future of fetus
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
es.
His diagnostic techniques have become widely accepted and are routinely used by prospective parents, especially couples with a history of genetic abnormalities or where the woman is over the age of 35, when the risk of genetically-related disorders is higher. As the tests could be performed up to six weeks earlier than amniocentesis
Amniocentesis
Amniocentesis is a medical procedure used in prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal abnormalities and fetal infections, in which a small amount of amniotic fluid, which contains fetal tissues, is sampled from the amnion or amniotic sac surrounding a developing fetus, and the fetal DNA is examined for...
, which uses a technique called chorionic villus sampling, the prospective parents were often more comfortable considering an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
if any major abnormalities or risk factors were discovered. In addition, by allowing parents to select an embryo without known genetic disorders, they also had the potential of saving the lives of siblings that already had similar disorders and diseases.
Establishing a clinic
In 1990, he established the private Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago to provide prenatal testing. According to his colleague, Dr. Norman Ginsberg, he was "a hard-working scientist, . . . . the first in the lab in the morning and the last out at night." Profits from his work were plowed back into research. "Rather than just make himself rich, he used this money to do a whole range of testing," Ginsberg added.Utilizing "polar bodies"
Verlinsky developed his ideas for genetic screening before doing in-vitro fertilization, he says, "while viewing a 1935 Joan MiroJoan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
painting in a Jerusalem art gallery." He observed that the painting showed "two disks, one red and one yellow, floating in space, with a small, round black object under the red one." The disks reminded him of human eggs, with one changing into the other by ejecting the black object. "In a flash of insight," he took out a business card and wrote "polar bodies" on the back of it.
A Polar body is a cell structure found inside an ovum, which includes the package of chromosomes ejected by the egg before fertilization by sperm. Verlinsky's "insight" was that he could analyze the polar body to look for certain genetic defects in the resulting egg. This approach was useful when both parents were carriers of a genetic defect. He found that by using only eggs with the healthy version of the gene, "the child would be protected even if the father passed on the mutated version," and as a result, his approach produced many healthy pregnancies. He later found that a single cell could be removed from an early fertilized egg without disturbing subsequent development, and it can then be used for genetic diagnosis.
In 2000, his technique became notable when it helped the parents of Molly Nash, a child who suffered from life-threatening Fanconi anemia, conceive a son without the disease and whose cells were later used to save Molly's life. In 2002, his method also helped a mother, whose genetic diagnosis showed a likelihood of getting Alzheimer's disease, conceive a daughter who was free of the gene. The case was declared a "medical milstone" as the first use of genetic testing to prevent an early onset form of Alzheimer's disease.
Significance of research
As a result of Verlinsky's Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis methods, experts today are able to more easily test for over 200 different genetic disorders and diseases, including Fanconi anemia, Alzheimer’s disease, Cystic fibrosis, thalassemia, Down syndrome, Tay-Sachs, and Muscular dystrophy. Experts have credited him with "some of the firsts" in applying P.G.D., such as tissue typingTissue typing
Tissue typing is a procedure in which the tissues of a prospective donor and recipient are tested for compatibility prior to transplantation. An embryo can be tissue typed to ensure that the embryo implanted can be a cord-blood stem cell donor for a sick sibling.One technique of tissue typing,...
to determine genetic defect risks and to allow the use of stem cells from newborns to treat other diseased family members. Dr. Andrew La Barbera, the scientific director for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said that Verlinsky's research had a "far-reaching impact on reproductive medicine" and he was a "giant in the field" by enabling couples to have children free of genetic diseases and making his methods "available to clinics around the world." "If it wasn't for Yury," said Dr. Jamie Grifo, program director at the New York University Fertility Center, "who knows how far this field would have come?"
Death
Verlinsky died in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
of colon cancer on July 16, 2009, at the age of 65. He is survived by his wife, Luba, a son, Oleg, his brother, Vitaly, and three grandchildren.
Other sources
- Verlinsky, Yury, and Kuliev, Anver. Textbook of Assisted Reproductive Techniques, "Clinical Application of Polar Body Biopsy", Chapter 31, Informa Healthcare (2004)
- Verlinsky, Yury, and Kuliev, Anver. Textbook of In-vitro Fertilization and Assisted Reproduction, "Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis and its Rold in Assisted Reproduction Technology", Bourn Hall Clinic, 2005
- Kuliev A, and Verlinsky Y. "Preimplantation genetic diagnosis: technological advances to improve accuracy and range of applications", Reproductive Genetics Institute, 2825 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL., April 16, 2008