#233 At-Home Non-Invasive Prenatal Screening with Juno Diagnostics

DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast

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As a prenatal genetic counselor, our host, Kira Dineen, is very intrigued to learn all about the new advances in non-invasive prenatal screening or NIPS. To see what’s new in at-home NIPS we are joined by experts from Juno Diagnostics (JunoDx), Katie Sagaser and Allison Rodgers!

Katie Sagaser is the Director of Genetic Counseling at Juno Diagnostics. Katie’s team provides telehealth, prenatal genetic counseling services for patients undergoing Juno’s Hazel™ Non-Invasive Prenatal Screen – the first at-home, capillary-based NIPS for fetal aneuploidy. Prior to joining JunoDx, Katie was an assistant professor of Gynecology & Obstetrics in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Katie’s professional interests center on equitable access to genetic testing and access to comprehensive reproductive health care throughout the lifespan. Most recently, she was the lead author on NSGC’s Practice Guidelines for Expanded (Equitable) Carrier Screening. A member of both the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine Reproductive Health Advisory Group and NSGC's Public Policy Committee, Katie is also actively engaged in public policy work surrounding reproductive health and genetics. At Juno, Katie is passionate about using social and digital media to scale access to high-quality information on genetics and reproductive medicine.

Dr. Allison Rodgers is a double board-certified OB-GYN and fertility doctor. She is currently the Director of Education at Fertility Centers of Illinois, a US Fertility Practice; additionally, she serves on the Clinical Advisory Board for Juno Diagnostics. Dr. Rodgers' personal experiences with secondary infertility and pregnancy loss inform her unique insights into reproductive medicine, contributing to compassionate and individualized patient care. She is published in top medical journals covering endometriosis, tubal factor infertility, in vitro fertilization, and donor sperm. Her special interests include in-vitro fertilization, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, unexplained infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss, premature ovarian insufficiency, LGTBQIA+ fertility, reciprocal IVF, and transgender fertility. She completed her residency at Case Western Reserve-Metrohealth Medical Center Cleveland Clinic, followed by a fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. You may recognize Dr. Rodgers from Tik Tok and Instagram where she shares fertility education with more than 1.3 million followers!

On This Episode We Discuss:

The inspiration behind JunoDx and their goal/mission

What drew Katie and Allison to JunoDx

How JunoDx’s technology/approach differs from other companies to successfully perform NIPS on a much smaller sample volume

How does Juno’s at-home approach to sample collection for NIPS increases accessibility, particularly those in underserved or remote areas

The difference between JunoDx’s 2 NIPS, Hazel and Birch

Determining sex of the baby with Birch NIPS

Conditions included in the more comprehensive Hazel screening

The process of ordering Hazel or Birch NIPS, collecting the sample, to learning the results

The positive predictive value and negative predictive values of the tests, what these values mean, and how they compare to other NIPS and other at-home NIPS

The evolution and future of at-home NIPS tests, particularly related to advancements in technology and genetic testing

To learn more about Juno Dx, visit their website and Youtube and Pinterest pages. You can also follow Juno Dx on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. And be sure to follow Dr. Rodgers on Tik Tok and Instagram, and Katie Sagaser on Twitter and Instagram!

Further Reading:

Capillary blood collection: exploring a new method to promote noninvasive prenatal screening access

"An exploration of methods to enable equitable access to non-invasive prenatal screening"

"Optimizing blood collection, transport and storage conditions for cell free DNA increases access to prenatal testing"

"Noninvasive prenatal detection of sex chromosomal aneuploidies by sequencing circulating cell-free DNA from maternal plasma"

"Women In Wellness: Katie Sagaser of JunoDx On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing"

Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today on April 28th, 2023, where we’ll be going back in time to explore the history of the genetic counseling field. We are focusing on the first annual conference for genetic counselors which was in 1981, 54 years ago! Joining us for this conversation are two rockstars in the field of GC, Debra Collins & Michelle Fox! New episodes are released every Friday. In the meantime, you can binge over 230 other episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, streaming on the website, or any other podcast player by searching, “DNA Today”. Episodes since 2021 are also recorded with video which you can watch on our YouTube channel.

DNA Today is hosted and produced by Kira Dineen. Our social media lead is Corinne Merlino. Our video lead is Amanda Andreoli. Our Outreach Intern is Sanya Tinaikar. Our Social Media Intern is Kajal Patel. And our Graphic Designer Ashlyn Enokian.

See what else we are up to on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and our website, DNAToday.com. Questions/inquiries can be sent to [e-mail].

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As many of you know through podcasting I have become an entrepreneur including consulting for other podcasts. Since I don't have a business degree I have learned a lot through podcasts like Porch Talks. The inspiration to start this show was from the host Melissa Bradley who wanted to inform, instruct, and inspire fellow entrepreneurs, especially in people who identify as women, people of color, immigrants, veterans, people with disabilities, and folks in the LGBTQIA+ community (which drew me in initially). So if you are thinking about starting a business or just love hearing stories about how businesses grow, Porch Talks is for you. (Sponsored)