Vertility Health gives farmers immediate, actionable control for breeding the next generation. By offering genetic selection technology at a low cost and without gene editing, Vertility Health offers a solution that any farmer can adopt for the benefit of their herd.

 
 

 

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Bonnie EJ Maven

Bonnie EJ Maven is the founder and CEO of Vertility Health, a company advancing genetic selection technology for animal agriculture. Raised on a small farm in Texas, Maven witnessed firsthand how vital reproductive technologies are to farmers. This perspective now fuels a mission to make genetic tools more precise, accessible, and impactful. After earning a Ph.D. in developmental and stem cell biology from UC San Francisco and the Gladstone Institutes, Maven turned to biotech innovation to deliver real-world solutions to agricultural communities worldwide.

 

TECHNOLOGY

 

Critical Need
For generations, farmers have bred cattle for productivity, and climate change is shifting farmers’ focus toward traits that help cattle not just survive but thrive in changing environments. However, breeding for critical traits like feed efficiency remains slow and imprecise and increases the risk of inbreeding. Today, there is no scalable, non-GMO way to ensure calves inherit specific genetic advantages from the bull.

Technology Vision
For the first time, farmers will be able to select for specific genetic traits they want to breed into their herd. Unlike current methods that are limited by probabilistic genetics—using artificial insemination (AI) to breed their cattle with top-performing bulls—Vertility Health’s technology enables farmers to select for desired traits directly from the sperm before AI. Using fluorescent probes that bind to specific genetic sequences, the sperm is identified and separated based on the presence or absence of target traits, such as heat tolerance or feed efficiency. This innovation allows for precise genetic selection at the sperm level, which in turn accelerates breeding outcomes without gene editing.

Potential for Impact
More cattle genomes are being sequenced than ever before, yet farmers are still limited to probability-based breeding. Vertility Health’s technology changes that by rewriting the rules of inheritance without gene editing. By enabling trait selection at the sperm level, we can accelerate the spread of climate-resilient genetics like heat tolerance and feed efficiency, reducing the environmental footprint of the livestock industry. This means fewer resources wasted, lower methane emissions, and healthier herds while preserving genetic diversity and avoiding the risks of inbreeding. The result is a scalable solution that supports both sustainability and profitability across the global cattle industry.

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Vertility Health