IVF breakthrough 'will increase chance of pregnancy'

Hi Dr Potter, have you heard of this? Will this be available in the US as well? It was in the news the other day in Australia.

"South Australian researchers say a breakthrough in IVF technology will increase the chances of women becoming pregnant.

The researchers at the University of Adelaide have developed a product that improves the rate of embryo implantation by up to 40 per cent.

The product, called EmbryoGen, makes use of a growth factor that is found naturally in the uterus.

Professor Sarah Robertson worked alongside Danish researchers on the project and says the product strengthens the embryo when it is added to the IVF culture.

"By replicating the natural environment with natural growth factor, we're providing the embryo with the information it expects to see and that gives it a much better chance of developing and progressing into a healthy pregnancy," she said,

Professor Robertson says the product will be particularly helpful to women who have miscarried.

"We think their embryos are more vulnerable or fragile and adding back this growth factor is protecting them from the stress of the culture dish," she said.

The product will launched in Europe in the middle of the year and become available in Australia in 2012."

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Originally Posted by Persistence

Hi Dr Potter, have you heard of this? Will this be available in the US as well? It was in the news the other day in Australia.

"South Australian researchers say a breakthrough in IVF technology will increase the chances of women becoming pregnant.

The researchers at the University of Adelaide have developed a product that improves the rate of embryo implantation by up to 40 per cent.

The product, called EmbryoGen, makes use of a growth factor that is found naturally in the uterus.

Professor Sarah Robertson worked alongside Danish researchers on the project and says the product strengthens the embryo when it is added to the IVF culture.

"By replicating the natural environment with natural growth factor, we're providing the embryo with the information it expects to see and that gives it a much better chance of developing and progressing into a healthy pregnancy," she said,

Professor Robertson says the product will be particularly helpful to women who have miscarried.

"We think their embryos are more vulnerable or fragile and adding back this growth factor is protecting them from the stress of the culture dish," she said.

The product will launched in Europe in the middle of the year and become available in Australia in 2012."

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I am not sure which growth factor they are talking about. I am interested to get more information. I will have to wait until they provide more details and actually publish some respectable data to actually have a real opinion. Additives to the culture media may enhance embryo development but they will never be able to change the genetics of the embryo. The genetic makeup of the embryo = the destiny of the embryo. So I am pretty skeptical of these claims but let's see what data they publish.