#embryo-screening

#embryo-screening

Biotech startups like Herasight in North Carolina, Nucleus Genomics in New York and Orchid Health in California use polygenic risk scores to predict which embryos are most likely to produce tall, smart, healthy children. The technology analyzes genetic variants to estimate everything from Alzheimer's risk to propensity for baldness. "We help people have their best babies," Kian Sadeghi, founder of Nucleus Genomics told NPR, calling it "genetic optimization." So far, the companies say they've screened thousands of embryos for hundreds of prospective parents and already helped create dozens, possibly hundreds, of genetically-screened babies.