The Business Times
business-time-50
THINKING ALOUD

The coming brave new world of designer babies

Genetic testing and other genomic services will likely be a hit in Asia

Summarise
google-preferred-sourceAdd BT as a preferred source
阅读简体中文版 (beta)
    • As the World Population Review notes, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea top the list for plastic surgery among East Asians.
    • As the World Population Review notes, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea top the list for plastic surgery among East Asians. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
    Mohan Kuppusamy

    Mohan Kuppusamy

    Published Tue, Feb 10, 2026 · 06:00 PM

    WOULD you pay US$30,000 to ensure that your future child would have a high IQ or won’t develop disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease?

    Posters in New York subways now display catchphrases such as “Have your best baby”, promoting tests for genes that influence a baby’s traits, including eye colour, hair colour and intelligence. Another advertisement urges would-be parents to preview their future child.

    One company, Nucleus Genomics, founded by 26-year-old Kian Sadeghi, claims, for the above fee, it will screen 20 embryos for 2,000 traits and conditions, including eye colour, acne, left-handedness and baldness.

    Thinking AloudGeneticsHealthScience & technology

    TRENDING NOW

    Traffic through the strait has been resuming but with interruptions, and there is still little clarity over a permanent solution for passages through the chokepoint.

    Qatari LNG ship struck in Strait of Hormuz, testing US talks

    This comes after a Citi note on Tuesday that lifted target prices for all Singapore banks, with a leading preference and “buy” call for DBS.

    DBS shares rise 1.9% to hit all-time intraday high as sentiment improves

    Aster deputy CEO Andre Khor, citing the age of the “polycrisis”, says: “It’s very important to be agile, to be focused on execution… We don’t know all the answers but we keep going forward.”

    ‘Baptism of fire’: Andre Khor on leading Singapore refiner Aster through an energy crisis

    Singapore ranks as the world’s most expensive city for cars and placed third globally for residential property.

    Singapore retains top spot as most expensive city for HNWIs, with five Apac cities in global top 10

    Latest T-bills Treasury Bills Results & Interest NewsLatest SSB Singapore Savings Bonds NewsLatest COE Certificate of Entitlement News
    Latest Johor-Singapore SEZ NewsLatest BTO Build To Order & Sales of Balance NewsLatest STI Straits Times Index NewsLatest SGX Dividends, Share Price NewsLatest Bonds Market NewsLatest Singapore Stocks To Buy NewsLatest Singapore Economy News
    View More