Nucleus Genomics, a genetic testing startup founded by 25-year-old Kian Sadeghi, was first launched in 2021 with the aim of calculating patient risks for certain diseases.
But it has been seeking controversy for years with products that claim to communicate to people how their genetics correlates with many complex issues, including IQ.
On Wednesday, in a tweet saying, “Every parent wants to give to their children. For the first time in human history, the nucleus adds a new tool to its commitment,” sparked controversy at the ear-digest level when it unveiled a new product called nuclear embryos.
Nucleus says it can test IVF embryos as well as not only the well-known specific genes that are likely to be diseases like breast cancer, but also the more well-known specific genes such as gender, height, hair color, eye color, and more, such as anxiety and complex health attributes like ADHD.
The launch video contains screenshots from the comparison menu. The idea is to help parents choose which embryos to choose and which embryos to throw away.
Genetic testing of embryos is not unprecedented. IVF doctors can test genes that can cause conditions like Down syndrome. Parents may also know that their parents are at a higher risk of certain hereditary disorders, such as cystic fibrosis.
But that’s not exactly what the core is doing. The controversial “polygenic score” is used to determine “complex genetic outcomes such as intelligence and anxiety.”
According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, a multigene score simply calculates the probability of a particular complex disease that occurs primarily within a population. “Polygenic risk scores can only explain the relative risk of disease,” says NHGR. This is not the same as discovering a specific gene, such as a BRCA1 gene mutation. The BRCA1 gene mutation presents a “absolute risk of breast cancer” of 60% to 80%, says NHGR.
There is a reason why doctors usually don’t use such tests on individuals. “Polygenic risk scores are not yet routinely used by healthcare professionals as there are no guidelines for practice and researchers are improving the way these scores are produced,” according to the NHGR.
Nuclear defends that it can use that method to determine risk for individuals. The spokesman pointed to us a 2018 paper in which the authors described the authors developed a validation method for five common diseases: coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and breast cancer.
The paper, similar to the original concept of Nucleus, advocated screenings to help individuals make lifestyle or therapeutic decisions.
Wednesday’s tweet promised parents that Nuclear could help make designer babies. It has now been viewed over 4 million times and has hundreds of comments. Many of them express distrust that this works as promised, or fearful at the idea.
One VC said, “I was going to type something like Noah would get a boat, but honestly, this reality just made me very nauseous.”
As TechCrunch previously reported, Nucleus has experienced this kind of controversy before. The startup is supported by the Founders Fund. 776 of Alexis Ohanian; also the angels including Adrian Own (CEO of Forward Health), Brent Sanders (former CEO of Allergan) and Matteoff Runcheschetti (CEO of 8 Sleep).
Last year, Sadeghi launched the Nucleus IQ. This is supposed to tell users how much their genetics affects their intelligence. The product was blown up by some critics as “bad science and big business.” Sadegi has announced a long defense of his company’s methodology.
Still, telling adults that they are genetically clever is one thing. Telling parents with IVF that they can choose their child’s appearance and other complex attributes is a matter of many claiming something else.
Nucleus is currently not performing such testing via IVF Lab Partners itself, the Wall Street Journal reports. We are partnering with genomic predictions in collaboration with IVF clinics. Genome executives told WSJ that many parents are requesting intelligence tests, but that doesn’t provide them. Parents can upload genetic data information if they want to voluntarily pursue its nuclear weapons.
Or, as Sadeghi said in the launch video aimed at becoming parents, “not too long ago, IVF-1 caused fear and stigma of a test tube baby,” he said. “What once caused controversy is now everyday practice. The same goes for genetic optimization. Technology is here and stays here.”