Match.com and eharmony.com are already succesful businesses and matchmakers for our digital age. Now entrepreneurs are sure to try to capitalize on advances in genomics and biotechnology to reshape the landscape of high-tech matchmaking. The field is wide open.
Googling a potential date's full genetic code could be on the distant horizon. The cost of sequencing your genome is dropping exponentially and availability is becoming widespread.
Scientific Match (site unavailable at time of posting) was the first dating service based on DNA and scientific profiles. Membership for this matchmaking service is annual, and they setup couples based somewhat on traditional match making methods that considers some level of personality preferences and interests of a mate. However, their main concept is based on DNA profiling that matches people with different immune system "breeds" so that cohabitating results in the development of healthier babies. The service, available only in the Boston area, charges $1,995 for a year-long subscription. "I strongly believe this will dominate the future of dating services," said founder Eric Holzle, a mechanical engineer.
As soon as new members join, they are sent a DNA collection package which involves cheek swabbing for DNA analysis; and members are assured that the DNA information collected will never come back to haunt them during murder investigations or paternity tests since it's kept completely private. The only thing the DNA data will be used for, is to help determine whether or not a potential match based on personality and interests is a good choice on the quest to create the 'ideal' genetically healthy children.
Genepartner a Swiss company that uses genetics to predict whether two people will have butterflies-in-the-stomach chemistry. Like Scientific Match, Genepartner is based on the now-famous sweat-shirt study performed by Prof. Dr. Wedekind at the University of Bern in Switzerland. In this study, Prof. Dr. Wedekind recruited female volunteers to smell T-shirts worn by men for three consecutive days and rate them for attractiveness. He then analyzed the particular part of DNA that codes for HLA (human leukocyte antigen) molecules and found that women preferred T-shirts from men whose HLA molecules were most different from their own. Sensing and classifying the HLA genes is something our bodies do automatically and subconsciously.. Already, partnerships are in the works with both traditional matchmakers and new online-dating sites and Facebook.
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