Reproductive clinic uses face biometrics for donor matching

Third-party reproduction clinic Lucina Egg Bank recently announced the introduction of Lucina ReflEggction, a platform that uses face biometrics to match clients with donors who have similar facial features.

Many clients look for donors who share similar features with them. The ReflEggction platform analyzes donors’ faces from a database and presents the ones who look the most like the intended parents. This allows the matching process to go beyond basic phenotypical criteria such as hair and eye color, height, skin tone, and blood group, and the company claims high accuracy in matching.

The platform creates an anonymized biometric template of a users’ face and can generate potential donor matches in under five seconds. Personal data takes on extra sensitivity in the context of reproduction, as the FTC made clear in a statement last year.

The U.S. is the largest fertility industry in the world and the use of donor eggs is common. According to the CDC, almost 24 percent of all in vitro fertilization cycles for patients over the age of 40 involve donor eggs. The egg bank’s platform is the first in the U.S. to feature facial recognition, according to the announcement, though Lucina Egg Bank serves clients across the globe, and the process could perhaps be better described as facial analysis.

“It’s an empowering, time-saving solution that we believe will redefine the future of third-party reproduction,” said President and chief medical officer of Lucina Egg Bank, Dr. David Harari. “Lucina ReflEggction simplifies, accelerates, and personalizes the selection process, ensuring our patients find their perfect match quickly and securely.”

Article Topics

biometric matching  |  biometrics  |  facial analysis  |  facial recognition