Maturing very immature eggs in the lab: CHR in the Media
As noted in the introduction of this newsletter, February was an unusual month when it came to media exposure because so much was happening. Indeed, quite a number of media encounters by CHR’s staff have not reached print yet and, therefore, will be presented in next month’s issue of the VOICE.
Clearly the most widely distributed mention was CHR’s participation in a study in the laboratory of Evelyn Telfer, PhD, at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, which last month appeared in the medical journal Molecular Human Reproduction (McLaughlin et al, DOI: 10.1093/molehr/gay002) and for the first time reported successful in vitro maturation of so-called primordial follicles to maturity.
Though the efficiency of the procedure so-far is still low, the concept is of great potential clinical relevance because a clinically useful method of maturing primordial follicles in the laboratory, would all over the world radically changes in how fertility treatments are administered. Assuming that such a capability can be achieved at a scale that is clinically practical, one, for example, could take from young women a small ovarian biopsy at peak fertility, which would contain hundreds, if not thousands of primordial follicles, more than enough to virtually guarantee them unlimited fertility for a life-time.
CHR’s Director of Laboratories and Senior Scientist, David Albertini, PhD, who appears in the explanation video above, has been collaborating with Prof. Telfer on this project for years. We, therefore, greatly appreciate the acknowledgment of this cooperation in all of the news reports. Full length articles appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including Forbes, Reuters and the Guardian.
This is a part of the March 2018 issue of the CHR VOICE.
Norbert Gleicher, MD, FACOG, FACS
Norbert Gleicher, MD, leads CHR’s clinical and research efforts as Medical Director and Chief Scientist. A world-renowned specialist in reproductive endocrinology, Dr. Gleicher has published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers and lectured globally while keeping an active clinical career focused on ovarian aging, immunological issues and other difficult cases of infertility.
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