bebegene® Newborn Genetic Screening

Screens 0-3 years babies with more than 120 conditions caused by chromosomal abnormalities and disease-causing gene variants, providing you an expanded insight of your baby’s health condition.

The more you know about your baby, the better equipped you can be to address any potential health problems.

Screening your newborn will facilitate early treatment and prevent long term detrimental effects to your baby’s health.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can sign-up for bebegene®?

Expectant mothers can sign up for bebegene service, whether they have signed up for cord blood banking or not.

Since my baby’s cord blood will be used for testing, will it affect the cord blood unit for future medical use?

bebegene® only requires 0.1ml of residual cord blood for testing. Residual blood is the remaining cord blood after going through the cord blood banking quality control checks. This will not affect the volume and usability of the cord blood unit that you have stored with us.

Since the hospital has already conducted tests on my baby, do I still need bebegene®?

Bebegene® provides you an expanded coverage of conditions beyond the checks conducted at the hospital. With the access to more information of your baby’s health, you can take preemptive measures to manage the potential conditions that your child is predisposed to. This small step can help to make a difference in your child’s development and overall health.

What should I do if the test result is positive?

Genetic counselling service is available upon request. Our qualified genetic counsellor will help you understand the result better and provide holistic advice on the follow-up options that you can take.


Disclaimer and Test Limitation

bebegene® genetic screening is tested by Eone-Diagnomics Genome Centre (EDGC), a CLIA-certified clinical lab based in South Korea with leading-edge technology for genome analysis. EDGC has a quality management system in place to ensure maximum accuracy of screening results. The test is only highly accurate for chromosomal abnormalities of aneuploidies, deletions and duplications (>200kb). As with any screening tests, false positive or false negative results cannot be completely eliminated due to various reasons including but not limited to specimen quality and other variables. This is a genetic screening test related to the genetic predisposition developmental disorders. It cannot be considered as a diagnostic test. Hence, the risk of a disorder should never be precluded solely on the basis of screening. If pathogenic variants are detected, follow up testing is recommended to confirm the results. Signs or symptoms observed should be followed up immediately by a professional healthcare provider.

Reference:
1. Genetic profile and clinical application of chromosomal microarray in children with intellectual disability in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Med J. 2018;24:451-9.