Newborn sequencing

“Would you have your baby’s genes sequenced at birth? A groundbreaking trial that used whole-genome sequencing to predict newborns’ future health, is starting to reveal the impact it has had on the whole family, seven years down the line.”

“Doctors in many places want to sequence and screen babies’ entire genomes at birth. In America there are projects to do just that at Boston Children’s Hospital, Columbia University and Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. A pioneering group at Harvard, known as BabySeq, has recently received money to expand its small-scale work to include … Continued

“Whole-genome sequencing may be the fastest way to diagnose rare complex diseases, but should it be incorporated into healthy newborn screening?” “We are missing the opportunity to address an increasing number of treatable conditions,” says G2P Dr. Robert Green.  

“Genomics England are poised to a launch a pilot project which will see the genomes of newborn babies sequenced on their very first day of life…In the USA, under a pilot project called BabySeq, a team co-led by Robert Green from Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that across 1,500 genes in 127 healthy and 32 … Continued

“Even before their baby is born, parents face some tough questions: Home birth or hospital? Cloth or disposable diapers? Breast, bottle, or both? But advances in genetic sequencing technology mean that parents will soon face yet another choice: whether to sequence their newborn’s DNA for an overview of the baby’s entire genome.”

The latest research from the BabySeq project shows that the delivery of genomic information from healthy newborns does not increase anxiety in parents.

“Researchers examined how conducting genome sequencing on newborns can impact family dynamics.”

“When parents were surveyed about measures like how well they bonded with their children, their levels of distress, and even the parents’ relationships with one another, there were no meaningful differences for parents whose children had their genomes sequenced compared to those whose children underwent standard newborn screening.”

“Researchers studying the psychosocial effect of newborn genomic sequencing on families in the BabySeq project have found that there was no persistent negative psychosocial harm in families who received such sequencing, nor among those who received a monogenic disease risk finding for their infants.”

“Robert Green, MD, MPH, of the Division of Genetics, received a research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund The BabySeq Project: Phase II, also known as BabySeq2, the continuation of a project to study genome sequencing in newborns.”

In this study led by UCSF researchers, exome sequencing was found to produce more false positives and false negatives for inherited metabolic disorders than the standard blood testing conducted in newborns. G2P’s Dr. Robert Green, co-leader of the BabySeq Project, speaks to the possibility “that the most comprehensive screening for newborns will be some combination … Continued