Is it time to test embryos for common diseases?

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A Silicon Valley company has designed a technique to decipher the genetic code of a tiny embryo and calculate its future risk of cancer, diabetes and 10 other common diseases – presaging a day when parents could select children with a greater chance of living a healthier life. “Some parents are really worried about a specific disease in their family,” said pediatric medical geneticist Dr. Akash Kumar, co-founder of MyOme, a Menlo Park-based genome sequencing company. “Our hope is that by providing information relevant to the diseases that they care about, they can feel like ...