Published Papers

With FertilitySA continuing to invest significantly into scientific research programs that target better patient outcomes, we are committed to research projects that demonstrate this in practice.

Obesity

Paper “Obesity and oocyte quality: significant implications for ART and emerging mechanistic insights”

Abstract

“The prevalence of obesity in adults worldwide, and specifically in women of reproductive age, is concerning given the risks to fertility posed by the increased risk of type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and other noncommunicable diseases.”

“Obese women have a higher chance of miscarriage, gestational diabetes, pregnancy complications, birth defects, and most worryingly, a higher risk of stillbirth and neonatal death. The potential for compounding effects of assisted reproductive technology (ART) on pregnancy complications and infant morbidities in obese women has not been studied.”

“There is still much debate in the (fertility) field on whether these poorer outcomes are mainly driven by defects in oocyte quality, abnormal embryo development, or an unaccommodating uterine environment, however the clinical evidence to date suggests a combination of all three are responsible.”

Biology of Reproduction, Volume 106, Issue 2, February 2022, Pages 338–350, https://doi.org/10.1093/biolre/ioab228

Embryo Health

Paper “Non-invasive, label-free optical analysis to detect aneuploidy within the inner cell mass of the preimplantation embryo”

Abstract

Can label-free, non-invasive optical imaging by hyperspectral autofluorescence microscopy discern between euploid and aneuploid cells within the inner cell mass (ICM) of the mouse preimplantation embryo?

K.R.D. is supported by a Mid-Career Fellowship from the Hospital Research Foundation (C-MCF-58-2019). This study was funded by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale Biophotonics (CE140100003) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (APP2003786). The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Media

One of the greatest challenges for IVF clinics is identifying which embryos are suitable for transfer back into the patient’s uterus. The current method involves taking a small number of cells from the embryo (a biopsy), then sequencing the DNA to confirm that the embryo has a predicted number of chromosomes. The revolutionary procedure involves shining gentle doses of light upon an embryo and capturing the scattered light that comes back. This reveals the intricacies of its biochemistry, providing insight into the health of the embryo. Co-author Dr Ryan Rose, Fertility SA Director of Research and Innovation said, “the time to pregnancy can be reduced with this new non-invasive IVF procedure.”

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