"When we smell pheromones, what we're actually smelling is how diverse someone's immune system is compared to our own," Brittany Barreto, who has a doctorate in genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, told Houston Chronicle.
"Evolution is very strong. So we're smelling each other, trying to figure out who is the best person to mate with", she said.
"And that's what love at first sight actually is. It's smelling someone's pheromones from across the room, and your brain says, 'Oh my Gosh, that's the most perfect pheromone profile I've ever smelled in my entire life. I love them.'"
Unlike other apps, Pheramor involves pulling details from someone's profile - such as what bands they like or what books they read.
This means the app, which is focused on young professionals between the age of 18 and 44, removes the bias associated with creating your own dating profile, the creators say.
"So many profiles, people just write, 'I love adventure, and I'm super laid back.' And it's like, 'Who are you? What does that mean?'", said Dr Baretto.
"And then you meet them, and they're not even adventurous.
"So us building the profile for users takes away the idea that someone has a standard profile that they write to put up on a dating app", she said.
The co-founders are hoping to launch the app in February in Houston. They need 3,000 members before they can officially launch.
"So, yes you can meet someone on a train and have that initial attraction. But what if you never met that person?", said Dr Baretto.
"The way I see it, we're helping you find those missed connections", she said.
Despite this growing list of known pheromones, researchers know little about the mechanism behind how pheromones actually work.
Ever since a pheromone secreted by a female moth that attracts males was first identified in 1959, researchers have identified many chemicals that affect behaviour in a wide variety of animal species, from insects to mammals to humans.
In June, researchers found a male pheromone in mice enhances sexual behaviours in females, and at the same time enhance aggression in males.
The team of Japanese researchers based at the University of Tokyo identified specific neural circuits and neurons in mice that generate a particular behavioural response to specific chemical signals.
In most animals, the sense of smells and sensory perception of other chemical stimuli play a critical role in controlling instinctive behaviours.
The pheromone, called ESP1, has been shown to enhance sexual behaviours in females, but elicit aggressive behaviours in males exposed to the pheromone along with unfamiliar male urine.
By using this method, the researchers found that ESP1 was routed differently in the brains of males and females, by neurons in a region of the brain called the amygdala.
The researchers also found that the activation of neurons that respond to the pheromone in the region of the brain called the hypothalamus enhanced sexual behaviour in female mice - even in the absence of actual ESP-1.
A different study showed a similar discovery in fruit flies.
It showed that a particular sex pheromone enhances female sexual behaviours and male aggression via separate neural circuits between the sexes.
This suggests that a sexually distinct circuit may be a universal strategy for converting male pheromone information into appropriate behavioural output.
The researchers say that further study into the neural basis underlying female sexual behaviours could help provide insight into the origins of sexual dysfunctions.
