Wonder, empathy, life: why we called our pregnancy-diagnostic company Mirvie

"Mirvie is a biotechnology company in San Francisco, California, that is developing blood tests that can predict pregnancy complications. It hopes its RNA-based technology will offer a non-invasive way to identify those at risk of conditions such as preeclampsia and premature birth."

"It was co-founded by physicists and serial entrepreneurs Maneesh Jain, the firm's chief executive, and Stephen Quake, the company's scientific advisory board chair. Quake combines his role with a bioengineering research position at Stanford University in California. Mirvie came about, says Jain, after both their partners had unexpectedly difficult births, and, they each thought: "Why is it that we know so little about something that matters so much?""

"When we first explored ideas for the company name, we involved the the first employees. This was back in 2019 in its first six months. One of the things with start-up firms is they don't have as many resources as bigger companies, but they do have a culture that means problems can be solved in a focused, efficient manner. So, we held a naming contest within the company and came up with all kinds of interesting options. It was a really good exercise in terms of being thoughtful about the process, but we were going in a bit of a literal direction. One suggestion was Jurni, because we aspire to understand the biological changes throughout the pregnancy journey. There was Radiant, to convey something about the hormonal glow that is often experienced during a pregnancy. There was Bryo, a take on 'embryo'. Ahana was another one, with the sense of wonder from the term 'Aha!' but also recognizing that pregnancy is a lot of work ( hana is the Hawaiian word for work)."

Mirvie develops RNA-based blood tests intended to non-invasively predict pregnancy complications and identify those at risk of conditions such as preeclampsia and premature birth. The company was co-founded by physicists and serial entrepreneurs Maneesh Jain and Stephen Quake, with Quake also holding a bioengineering research position at Stanford. The venture was motivated by unexpectedly difficult births experienced by the founders' partners, prompting questions about limited knowledge of pregnancy. Early naming efforts in 2019 involved first employees in a naming contest. Proposed names included Jurni, Radiant, Bryo, and Ahana, reflecting journey, glow, embryo, and wonder/work themes.

Read at Nature