Sequencing every newborn’s genome to detect diseases faces ethical and practical obstacles, but the United Kingdom is pushing ahead with a major test

Genomic testing for Baby Cora, a participant of The BabySeq Project, revealed a disorder that might otherwise have gone undetected through traditional newborn screening. “Cora’s case illustrates the promise of sequencing the entire genomes of newborns: uncovering a bounty of genetic information that could identify infants needing treatment and improve health later in life…Genomics England hopes to test that promise in a pilot research project involving up to 200,000 babies.”