NOCATEE, Florida — Florida families will be able to enroll their newborns this summer in a state-backed program that screens for hundreds of rare genetic conditions before any symptoms appear, according to Florida State University, which is coordinating the effort.
The initiative, called Sunshine Genetics, is run by the Florida Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases at FSU's College of Medicine. The institute was named the lead organization under the Sunshine Genetics Act, a 2025 law that created a state-run structure for sequencing infants' DNA at birth and paid for a pilot program.
Families who take part will not face an additional blood draw. The program relies on the same heel-stick blood spot the state already gathers for routine newborn testing, according to the university. Once parents enroll, that sample is sequenced to look for disease-causing variants in roughly 900 genes tied to treatable childhood disorders. Florida's standard newborn panel currently checks for 63 conditions.
State Rep. Adam Anderson, a Republican from Palm Harbor and an FSU graduate who sponsored the law after his son Andrew died of Tay-Sachs disease, said the aim is to spare other families a long wait for a diagnosis.
My hope is that families will get the answers that they need and that babies born today won’t have to live that same nightmare of that diagnostic odyssey that I did and that so many families around the country do every day.
