Natera, formerly known as Gene Security Network, today announced that details about the breadth of the company’s non-invasive prenatal diagnostic test will be disclosed in presentations during the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s 32^nd Annual Meeting, February 6-11, in Dallas.

Natera’s non-invasive prenatal diagnostic test is currently being evaluated in a clinical trial for detection of multiple disorders, including Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), Trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome), Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome) and certain sex chromosome abnormalities. The diagnostic test, planned for launch later this year, uses fetal DNA found in a blood sample drawn from the mother within the first trimester of pregnancy. This is the first clinical trial of a non-invasive prenatal diagnostic to be funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“Unlike other non-invasive prenatal diagnostics that test only for Down Syndrome and Trisomy 18, our test will offer patients and physicians effective diagnosis of multiple disorders caused by chromosomal abnormalities,” said Matthew Rabinowitz, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Natera. “The goal of our non-invasive test is to provide detection coverage comparable to invasive tests, such as amniocentesis, and inclusion of these additional abilities will provide disease detection coverage of more than three times that of other non-invasive tests. We look forward to continuing to explore these broad uses of our test through our clinical study, as well as the potential for further applications in future development.”

Additional details about the test will first be presented during a satellite symposium, titled “Non-invasive Prenatal Diagnosis Beyond Trisomy 21: Using Bioinformatics to Address Low Fetal DNA Fraction in the First Trimester and Detect Multiple Common Chromosome Abnormalities,” from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. CST on Friday, February 10.

The poster presentations, titled “A novel targeted sequencing approach improves non-invasive detection of chromosome ploidy on 1^st trimester samples” and “A novel and highly accurate method for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using parental genotypes,” will be delivered from 10 a.m. to noon CST on Saturday, February 11.

About Natera

Natera is a genetic testing company that has developed a proprietary bioinformatics technology (Parental Support) to deliver accurate and comprehensive high throughput testing for reproductive indications from tiny quantities of DNA – as small as that from a single cell. Natera operates a CLIA laboratory in Redwood City, Calif., providing a host of preconception and prenatal genetic testing services. Test offerings include preimplantation genetic diagnosis to analyze chromosomal anomalies or inherited genetic conditions during an IVF cycle in order to select embryos with the highest probability of becoming healthy children; products of conception testing following miscarriage to rapidly and extensively analyze fetal chromosomes in order to understand the cause; and non-invasive prenatal testing to determine paternity or detect genetic disease by analyzing fragments of fetal DNA in a pregnant mother’s blood drawn in the first trimester. Non-invasive testing for paternity is currently available worldwide. Natera's clinical trial for non-invasive detection of chromosomal anomalies is funded by the NIH and is being conducted by the leaders in maternal-fetal medicine in the United States. For more information, visit .