Asger Risom
Across the Bay Area, a growing cohort of founders, investors, and technologists is approaching parenthood in a way that looks very different from traditional family planning.
Across the Bay Area, a growing cohort of founders, investors, and technologists is approaching parenthood in a way that looks very different from traditional family planning. Instead of relying on donor traits or natural conception, many are choosing to undergo IVF even without fertility issues, then pouring thousands into advanced embryo screening that promises unprecedented insight into a future child’s genetic profile.
New tools, new priorities
Startups like Herasight and Orchid Health are developing expanded screening tools that move far beyond conventional checks for chromosomal abnormalities or single-gene disorders. These services analyze genomes for risks spanning inherited diseases, childhood cancers, mental health conditions, autoimmune disorders, and, in some cases, nonmedical traits such as height, body mass index, longevity markers, IQ indicators, and musical aptitude.
For Herasight’s leadership, the appeal is personal. CEO Michael Christensen says his own extreme height makes daily life uncomfortable and hopes to spare future children the same issues. Chief science officer Tobias Wolfram, who already has frozen embryos, wants to avoid passing down a family history of depression. Communications executive Jonathan Anomaly plans to screen for autoimmune disorders that have affected his relatives.
These decisions reflect a broader shift in the region: a willingness to treat embryo selection as another optimization problem that technology can solve.
Big money, bigger ambition
The surge of interest aligns with a sharp rise in investment across reproductive technology. The global IVF industry is still relatively small—about $28 billion—but venture funding in the space climbed to record levels in 2024. Billionaires including Brian Armstrong and Oliver Mulherin are now backing companies developing embryo-editing techniques that, while controversial and heavily restricted worldwide, aim to correct genetic mutations before implantation.
Other founders, like Manhattan Genomics’ Cathy Tie, believe targeted gene correction could reduce reliance on embryo selection entirely. Her company aims to begin nonhuman primate testing next year.
Meanwhile, emerging companies such as Nucleus Genomics are openly advertising screening for traits like intelligence and height, signaling where parts of the market would like to go—regardless of how far the science is from supporting those ambitions.
A scientific leap with unclear boundaries
Screening technology is advancing quickly, but many experts warn that predictions for complex traits remain unreliable. Even with whole-genome sequencing, meaningful interpretation requires far more data than currently exists.
Illumina’s AI research lead Kyle Farh says roughly a billion fully sequenced genomes would be needed to produce models strong enough to predict many traits people hope to influence today. Current correlations, he cautions, remain weak.
Still, for families trying to avoid severe inherited disease, these tools have already proven transformative. San Francisco parents Roshan George and Julie Kang screened embryos after learning they both carried a mutation linked to profound deafness. Their first child was born with normal hearing—confirmation, they say, that the process was worthwhile.
Ethics, expectations, and the “perfect baby” debate
As screening expands, so do concerns about how far parents may try to push it. Some legal and bioethics experts warn that the rapid commercialization of these technologies is outpacing regulation and could create unrealistic expectations for children whose embryos were selected with specific hopes in mind.
NYU bioethicist Arthur Caplan notes that when parents treat embryos as optimized products, children may feel pressured to match the traits their parents paid to prioritize. Others, like Stanford’s Hank Greely, argue that screening for behavioral traits such as intelligence or personality remains scientifically implausible for decades—even if the marketing suggests otherwise.
For now, most families are seeking relief from illness rather than designer outcomes. But the Bay Area’s appetite for innovation is pushing the boundaries faster than many predicted.
Sources: Fortune
