The first question out of Asma Mirza’s mouth when she makes a new acquaintance these days is, “Are you single?” If she gets a yes, the 27-year-old CEO quickly follows up with a request to swab the inside of her new friend’s cheek, in hopes it will help them find true love. Often, people look at her like she’s crazy. They’ll ask, “What does my DNA have to do with love?” According to an ever-growing body of scientific
research, the answer is: quite a bit. That’s why Mirza and 26-year-old geneticist Brittany Barreto have spent the last year huddled in their downtown Houston office, working steadily to launch the nation’s first genetics-based dating app, Pheramor. Their phone-based app, which they plan to officially roll out in February, combines genetic information with data gleaned from social media posts to create user profiles. READ MORE
