Of course, [Rafal] Smigrodzki thinks his baby is special — most parents do. But Aurea is indeed unique. She was born almost two years ago and happens to be the first child born as the result of a new type of genetic screening, which carefully selected her embryo.
Smigrodzki and his girlfriend used in vitro fertilization and an advanced selection process from a startup called Genomic Prediction. The New Jersey startup offers genetic tests and promises to help prospective parents select embryos with the best possible genes. The company says its test can screen embryos for a variety of diseases and health conditions, like heart disease, diabetes, or breast cancer.
Smigrodzki, a neurologist with a PhD in genetics, stumbled across the company in 2017.
“I was always interested and reading about all kinds of new developments,” he said. “And just happened to read an article in the MIT Technology Review about Genomic Prediction.”
The article, however, was critical of this kind of testing. It was titled “Eugenics 2.0: We’re at the Dawn of Choosing Embryos by Health, Height, and More.”
Antonio Regalado, the journalist who wrote the article, has been covering genetics since the late ‘90s.
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Where Regalado saw a threat, Rafal Smigrodzki, Aurea’s dad, saw an opportunity — to give his child the best possible start.