Online Dating Site Offers DNA Matching

AN online dating website that compares the DNA of its customers promises a more satisfying sex life and healthier children for couples who are genetically matched.

Scientific Match helps singles find their "genetic match" by analysing their DNA and recommending a partner who has different immune system genes than themselves for a subscription fee of $US1995 ($2323) per year.

"Welcome to a new era of human relationships. We're the only introduction service that creates matches with actual physical chemistry," the website's homepage says.

After signing up to the website, clients are sent a DNA collection kit containing cheek-swabs and a pre-paid return envelope. Their saliva samples are then processed and they are matched with other users whose genetic profiles are different to their own.
Scientific Match claims the benefits of its matching process are a sexier smelling partner, more satisfying sex, healthier babies and a higher number of orgasms for women.

The US company, owned by Love Sciences, currently provides the service to singles in areas of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
The future of dating?

Scientific Match says its service is based on the theory people with different immune systems breed "healthier" babies who have a wider variety of immune system genes.

"Since nature’s goal is to perpetuate the species, it encourages us to mate with others who have immune systems different from our own," the company says.

Among the studies referenced to support the theory is a 1995 experiment that found women were attracted to the scents of men with different immune systems.

In that study, led by Claus Wedekind and Dustin Penn at the University of Utah, women were asked to smell T-shirts worn by different men and rate their appeal.

"Nature attracts us to our genetic matches with our noses. The fact is, we love how other people smell when their immune systems are different from ours," Scientific Match says.

The company's founder Eric Holzle told CNET he believed genetic matching would "dominate the future of dating services", but the website was derided by one expert.

"(It) sounds like a complete and utter rip-off that preys on people's lack of knowledge of causation and correlation," said geneticist Dean Hamer from the US National Cancer Institute.
'Age of the Genome'

Scientific Match isn't the only website to offer a service based on DNA analysis. Last month Wired magazine ran a cover story about the "Age of the Genome", discussing websites that offer people an overview of their genetic profiles.

For about $US1000 ($1164) companies such as 23andMe and Navigenics analyse customers' DNA and allow them view the results online, including overviews of their inherited traits and talents and their predispositions towards various diseases.

23andMe, named after the 23 pairs of chromosomes that contain DNA, also allows family members to sign up together and trace their genealogy.

One of the problems with offering advice based on genetic profiles is that disease risks are often associated with a combination of genetic variations rather than just one, the magazine reported.

Journalist Thomas Goetz said the experience of browsing through his genetic profile was "simultaneously unsettling, illuminating and empowering".

"There's nothing intuitive about navigating your genome," he said after spitting into a cup and having his DNA analysed.

"It requires not just a new vocabulary but also a new conception of personhood. Scrape below the skin and we're flesh and bone; scrape below that and we're code."