Why can't I buy a single health test?

Embark's technology allows us to test every dog for every condition and trait that we offer.

Embark uses a research-grade SNP chip to genotype your dog. Most DNA testing laboratories that offer single health tests à la carte typically use a different genotyping method, where a specific DNA sequence is amplified and then either sequenced or run on a gel to evaluate the size of the DNA sequence (for copy number or structural variants).

An SNP chip is actually a platform to which we have anchored thousands of unique sequences of DNA. Once your dog's DNA is extracted and prepared, it is washed over the chip—and will bind all the sequences to which it is complementary. In this way, we get your dog's results for our entire health panel with just one test.