The world of pregnancy is going to radically change, predicts Noor Siddiqui. \u201cI think that the default way people are going to choose to have kids is via IVF and embryo screening,\u201d she said at the WIRED Health summit last week. \u201cThere\u2019s just a massive amount of risk that you can take off of the table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Siddiqui is the founder and CEO of Orchid, a biotech company that offers\u00a0whole-genome screening<\/a>\u00a0of embryos for IVF. By analyzing the DNA of different embryos before selecting which one to implant, Orchid says, parents can lower the risk their children grow up affected by conditions with a genetic basis. Siddiqui was speaking with George Church\u2014a pioneer in genomics and a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School\u2014at the summit in Boston, exploring the promise and potential of whole-genome sequencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An\u00a0estimated<\/a>\u00a04 percent of people worldwide have a disease that\u2019s caused by a single genetic mutation. With embryo screening, \u201cthese monogenic diseases can be just completely avoided,\u201d Siddiqui said. On top of this, roughly half the world\u2019s population suffers from a chronic disease with at least some genetic basis. Analyze five embryos ahead of implanting one, Siddiqui said, and \u201cyou can now mitigate the genetic component of that risk by these double-digit numbers. You\u2019re talking about in the worst case 30 percent and in the best case up to 80 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> At WIRED Health 2025, Orchid CEO Noor Siddiqui and the genomics pioneer George Church laid out their view of the future of genetic screening. https:\/\/t.co\/1lBgEZBdwK<\/a><\/p>— WIRED (@WIRED) September 15, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>