Adam Jensen was born in 1993. At a very young age he was one of a group of infants subjected to experimental genetic therapy treatments by White Helix, a subsidiary of VersaLife. All of the children, aside from Jensen, died as a result of the treatments. Two scientists in charge of Adam found out they had succeeded with him, but had grown too attached to let VersaLife continue experimenting on him. Also, not wanting any more children to undergo the same treatments, they burned down the facility where the experiments had taken place. They were murdered by the Illuminati and later reported as fire casualties, but their plan worked and infant Jensen was rescued by a kind-hearted facility worker named Michelle Walthers. Walthers gave up the baby Jensen for adoption, and at age five he was adopted by two loving parents. The rest of his youth and his adolescence were relatively normal. He grew up unaware of his origins, and believing that his foster parents were his birth parents.
However, unbeknownst to Walthers, Jensen or anyone else, the White Helix gene therapy had permanently altered Jensen's biochemistry. His body would no longer damage PEDOT electrodes with glial tissue buildup; instead, it would form a strong bond with the electrodes - meaning that if he were to be augmented, he would not require Neuropozyne. For the thirty years that followed the White Helix experiment, Jensen would unknowingly carry the secret of universal augmentation in his DNA.