Patent attributes
The disclosure relates to methods, compositions, and kits for the early determination of the sex of a fetus. The disclosure also provides methods, compositions, and kits for detecting fetal nucleic acids in biological samples (e.g., cell-free fetal DNA). An embodiment includes a method of improving the accuracy of fetal sex determination by reducing a level of contaminating DNA in a blood sample from a pregnant human subject, comprising obtaining a capillary blood sample collected from the upper arm using a push-button blood collection device, thereby reducing a level of contaminating DNA from a non-maternal and non-fetal source in the capillary blood sample as compared to a blood sample collected from a site on the finger or hand of the subject, and detecting the presence or absence of fetal Y-chromosome to determine the sex of the fetus.
