Polygenic embryo screening: When start-ups test the genetics of babies

Munich. “You were a frozen baby.” With this sentence, Rafal Smigrodzki tried to explain its creation to his daughter Aurea. “She was quite curious about it,” says the American – and reacted calmly. Aurea is now six years old and is the first child in the world to receive polygenic embryo screening.

What this means is that an embryo, i.e. a very early stage of development of a baby, is examined for various genetic variants. During the evaluation, the embryo created via artificial insemination in the test tube remains frozen in order to obtain the statistically calculated risk values ​​for certain diseases and characteristics. The genetic makeup is not changed.

A handful of start-ups in the USA are currently offering such tests. They advertise “less Alzheimer’s, no diabetes, but more IQ”. The companies also evaluate embryos based on height, body mass index, ADHD and intelligence.

This area is already attracting prominent investors such as the head of the AI ​​company OpenAI, Sam Altman, and more and more start-ups want to get into it - and the area is polarizing: not everyone is convinced of polygenic embryo screening. Many geneticists believe commercialization of the technology is premature.

The science is still too young, says geneticist and bioinformatician Yves Moreau from the Belgian university KU Leuven: “There is a gap between what is sold and what actually works.”