{"id":34226,"date":"2025-06-04T17:29:18","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T17:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=34226"},"modified":"2025-06-05T22:38:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T22:38:34","slug":"longevity-is-now-a-factor-when-picking-an-embryo-for-ivf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/longevity-is-now-a-factor-when-picking-an-embryo-for-ivf\/","title":{"rendered":"Longevity Is Now a Factor When Picking an Embryo for IVF"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Amy Dockser Marcus, originally published June 4, 2025, The Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DNA analysis predicts likelihood of age-related conditions such as heart disease and cancer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prospective parents using IVF will soon be able to rank embryos using genetic and other information in the hopes of extending the longevity<\/a> of their offspring, according to the 25-year-old entrepreneur behind Nucleus Genomics, a DNA testing and analysis company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLifespan has dramatically increased in the last 150 years,\u201d said Kian Sadeghi, the company\u2019s founder and chief executive. \u201cDNA testing to predict and reduce chronic disease can make it happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nucleus plans to charge $5,999 for an analysis of up to 900 conditions, including diseases that occur later in life and are major causes of death in older people such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease, heart disease and cancers. The company will analyze up to 20 embryos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The embryos are given probabilities for the likelihood they will get these chronic conditions. It is up to the parents to decide the qualities most important to them when choosing which embryos to use. They can book sessions with genetic counselors if they want to discuss the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IVF doctors and clinics routinely offer to test embryos for chromosomal abnormalities that can cause genetic conditions such as Down syndrome, and prospective parents who know they are at risk of having a child with a lethal disease caused by mutations in a single gene, such as Tay-Sachs or sickle-cell disease, are advised to screen their embryos.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Nucleus is offering to generate risk scores for embryos\u2019 likelihood of getting diseases caused by hundreds or even thousands of genes. Called polygenic risk scores, this type of analysis isn\u2019t currently recommended by most medical societies. The scores are probabilities and don\u2019t mean that someone will get the condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nucleus also provides probability assessments for the embryos\u2019 IQ, height and eye color<\/a>. Sadeghi said that Nucleus informs customers of the strength of the various predictions. IQ predictions are limited in accuracy, according to the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadeghi said he doesn\u2019t draw a line between people who want to take a DNA test so they can know their own risks and try to prevent diseases and those who screen and rank embryos to choose one with a better chance of living far beyond 85<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is the same underlying motivation,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is about living a longer, healthier life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Paula Amato, a fertility doctor at Oregon Health & Science University, said ethicists worry that these types of rankings will result in a society that doesn\u2019t value certain types of children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to her own practice, she will not transfer an embryo with an abnormal number of chromosomes into a woman\u2019s uterus as part of IVF. But if patients seek out additional analyses and choose among the remaining embryos based on personal preferences, she said: \u201cThat\u2019s their prerogative. I won\u2019t stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nucleus doesn\u2019t do genetic tests of embryos. It is partnering with Genomic Prediction, which works with IVF clinics to test embryos for chromosomal abnormalities and to calculate risk scores for 13 polygenic diseases, including diabetes, heart diseases and cancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nathan Treff, chief scientific officer of Genomic Prediction, said the company has tested 120,000 embryos for IVF clinics and doctors. For around 5,000 of those embryos, doctors and clinics also ordered the risk scores to help people make decisions about which embryos to transfer. Treff said the company doesn\u2019t provide predictions for embryos\u2019 IQ, which is frequently requested by patients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company will send the embryos\u2019 raw data to Nucleus for further analysis at customers\u2019 request. Patients are entitled under federal law to request the raw genetic data from clinical labs and can also upload the data to Nucleus themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Predicting embryos\u2019 future risk for chronic diseases is attracting interest in the longevity community. Orchid Health, which launched in 2021, does genetic testing on embryos and provides risk scores for many age-related diseases, charging approximately $2,500 per embryo. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe longevity community has taken significant interest in our work because we\u2019re essentially enabling families to debug their genetic code for the next generation,\u201d said Diba Massihpour, head of operations at Orchid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nucleus\u2019s Sadeghi, the middle of three children born to Iranian immigrants, became interested in science as a child after a young cousin died of what doctors suspected was an unknown genetic heart-rhythm disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He dabbled in Crispr<\/a>\u2014a gene-editing technology\u2014as a high-school science student and studied computational biology at the University of Pennsylvania. He left school in 2020 during Covid and began pitching an idea for what has become Nucleus from his parents\u2019 basement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With $200,000 from an angel investor, he hired a few friends and incorporated the company in 2021. He has since raised $32 million, including $1.5 million from Peter Thiel\u2019s Founders Fund and $10 million from Alexis Ohanian\u2019s Seven Seven Six, a venture-capital firm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadeghi is a frequent speaker at longevity conferences, including a recent one at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Last year, Nucleus, a sponsor of longevity biohacker Bryan Johnson\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Die\u201d conferences, swabbed Johnson for DNA onstage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadeghi sees a direct connection between the longevity movement and embryo testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe longevity movement is about taking medicine back and putting it in the people\u2019s hands,\u201d Sadeghi said. \u201cWhy would that not apply now to the most intimate, personal, emotional, sensitive decision you will make? Picking your baby.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amy Dockser Marcus is a health and science reporter for The Wall Street Journal.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Images: The Wall Street Journal – Ayush Soni\/Nucleus; Don’t Die Summit.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Amy Dockser Marcus, originally published June 4, 2025, The Wall Street Journal DNA analysis predicts likelihood of age-related conditions such as heart disease and cancer Prospective parents using IVF will soon be able to rank embryos using genetic and other information in the hopes of extending the longevity of their offspring, according to the 25-year-old entrepreneur…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nLongevity Is Now a Factor When Picking an Embryo for IVF - Cincinnati Right to Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/longevity-is-now-a-factor-when-picking-an-embryo-for-ivf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Longevity Is Now a Factor When Picking an Embryo for IVF - 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