By Jeff Knox, Senior Associate
Each year, hundreds of thousands of couples in the U.S. turn to in vitro fertilization (IVF) for help starting a family. And yet IVF remains an uncertain process: fewer than half of transferred embryos result in live births. Choosing the right embryo for transfer is one of the most critical – and difficult – steps. Traditional methods rely heavily on appearance and chromosome count, missing deeper insights that might predict whether an embryo will lead to a healthy birth.
Juniper Genomics is tackling this challenge by combining whole genome sequencing with a custom-built data layer to improve embryo selection. Their platform identifies genetic changes inside the chromosomes that may prevent fetal survival – going beyond just chromosome counting and embryo appearance. With early clinical adoption among academic fertility centers and clinics, Juniper is well-positioned to transform preimplantation testing and improve outcomes for families. We’re excited to support CEO Jeremy Grushcow and team as they use AI for good in helping more parents have healthy babies.
The Problem: IVF Is Still Too Uncertain
IVF is a well-established medical procedure, but its success remains frustratingly inconsistent. While younger patients (<35) see about a 45% success rate per embryo transfer, that number drops dramatically with age—to as low as 6% for women over 42.
Critical to IVF success or failure is embryo selection. Clinics today choose embryos based largely on visual inspection (morphology) and chromosome counting (aneuploidy), trying to detect major abnormalities. These methods help, but they’re blunt tools. Many embryos that appear normal still fail, and others may be unnecessarily discarded. The reality is more complex: fetal viability is influenced not just by chromosome number but also by specific genetic mutations and expression patterns on those chromosomes. Until recently, analyzing those deeper genomic features at scale was too costly or complex for regular IVF care.
As technology has advanced and whole genome sequencing has become more accessible, there’s an opportunity to go further – to use the richer data provided by whole genome sequencing to uncover previously undetectable genetic mutations that might interfere with live birth. However, industry has lacked the tools to interpret full genome data in a clinically meaningful way.
The Juniper Solution
Juniper Genomics offers a modern, end-to-end platform for embryo evaluation that layers expertly designed AI variant interpretation on top of best-in-class genome, trio, and transcriptome sequencing to help parents make more informed embryo transfer decisions.
The process begins with clinical-quality DNA and RNA sequencing. This is performed on cells that would go on to become the placenta, but nonetheless share the same DNA as the rest of the embryo. Sequencing is performed on mom and dad’s genomes as well. From the sequencing results, Juniper’s proprietary pipeline filters out sequencing errors, non-lethal mutations, and variants with no impact on fetal development. What remains is a curated set of mutations relevant to embryo viability—identified through an expert-designed algorithm that considers both pathogenicity and inheritance patterns. Through the same process, Juniper is also able to offer parents the most comprehensive view yet of genetic changes that cause disease, using standard clinical annotation criteria.
Juniper’s approach allows for a data-rich evaluation of each embryo that is significantly more nuanced than current methods. It goes beyond counting chromosomes or grading appearance to assess additional dimensions of biological risk. For clinics, this means higher confidence in which embryos are most likely to succeed. For prospective parents, it could mean fewer IVF cycles and better chances of a live birth.
Into the Future of Fertility Medicine
We believe Juniper Genomics is poised to redefine the way fertility clinics serve parents using IVF, making the process more efficient, less emotionally taxing, and ultimately more successful. Now is the time to combine genomic sequencing advances with AI analysis to give prospective parents new hope backed by deeper genomic insight. At Innospark, we invest in AI-driven solutions that improve human well-being. Juniper Genomics exemplifies that mission—bringing cutting-edge science to a deeply personal human experience. We’re proud to support their journey.