Research People

Fighting to Avoid Her Mother’s Fate, for Her Daughters’ Sake

Linde Jacobs stands in a lab wearing a black shirt
Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times

Linde Jacobs paced back and forth across her bedroom, eyeing the open laptop on the dresser and willing the doctor to appear. Her husband was dropping off their older daughter at school. Their younger daughter was downstairs, occupied by a screen. Linde wanted to be alone when she learned whether she carried the family curse.