Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory Launches New Carrier Screening Product Line
New Genetic Screening Tests lead the carrier screening market in breadth and depth
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai today announced the launch of a range of new carrier screening tests, NextStep Carrier Screening, which are market leading in terms of breadth and depth of coverage. The new tests, offered by the Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory include a pan-ethnic carrier screen for 281 diseases, the largest currently available. The NextStep line includes a Comprehensive Jewish Panel of 96 diseases, the first of its kind to address the majority of different Jewish populations, including a Sephardi-Mizrahi panel of 48 disorders. These new carrier screening tests will help prospective parents more effectively identify whether they carry certain genetic mutations that would affect their offspring.
“Our mission is to assist prospective parents and provide the most comprehensive knowledge available regarding their risk of having a child affected with a genetic disease. We have invested years of population-based research and technology adaptation in our clinical laboratory to create tests that not only expand the number of diseases screened, but also increase the breadth of coverage, to improve carrier detection rates and provide more accurate residual risk estimates to patients,” said Lisa Edelmann, PhD, Executive Director of the Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory.
NextStep Carrier Screening utilizes six testing technologies in parallel to ensure the highest detection rate for each genetic disease. Furthermore, building on years of in-house genetic research, Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Lab is the only lab in the world that offers a carrier screening panel for individuals of Sephardi or Mizrahi Jewish background
“We leveraged our expertise with next-generation DNA sequencing in concert with several other state-of-the-art technologies to deliver the best available carrier screening tests to our physicians and their patients,” said Eric Schadt, PhD, the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Founding Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology.
“Mount Sinai continues to stay at the forefront of world-class reproductive medicine with these enhanced carrier screening tests. The comprehensiveness and accuracy of these new panels can provide our physicians and their patients with the information they need to make crucial care decisions,” said Michael Brodman, MD, Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the Mount Sinai Health System.
The NextStep line of tests can be ordered directly from the Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Lab, and will also be distributed via third-party clinical laboratories to facilitate access to more comprehensive carrier screening for as many people as possible.
“The launch of these new carrier screening panels is the perfect example of our focus at Mount Sinai to improve patient care through the rapid deployment of research and technological advances into clinical practice,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs for the Mount Sinai Health System.
Patients and healthcare providers can learn more about NextStep Carrier Screening by visiting www.nextsteptest.com.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with 48,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 11 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2023-2024.
For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.