IVF News

Professor Robert Edwards – known affectionately as the father of IVF - has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine 2010. His pioneering work with Patrick Steptoe led to the birth of the world’s first ‘test-tube’ baby, Louise Brown, on 25 July 1978.

Steptoe and Edwards founded the world’s first IVF clinic at Bourn Hall Cambridge in 1980. Over 10,000 babies have been born following treatment at the clinic. Chief Executive, Mike Macnamee says of Professor Edwards,

“Bob Edwards is one of our greatest scientists. His inspirational work in the early 60s led to a breakthrough that has enhanced the lives of millions of people worldwide. He is held in great affection by everyone that has worked with him and was treated by him. I am really pleased that my great mentor, colleague and friend has been recognised in this way.”

Professor Edwards and his family were delighted to hear the news. His wife Ruth says on behalf of the family,

“The family are thrilled and delighted that Professor Edwards has been awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine for the development of IVF.

“The success of this research has touched the lives of millions of people worldwide. His dedication and single minded determination despite opposition from many quarters has led to successful application of his pioneering research.”

It was following a chance meeting in 1968 between the gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, Research Fellow at the Department of Physiology, University ofCambridge, which led to a collaboration that would change the lives of millions of people. 

Although Edwards had created the first blastocyst in 1968 and the first successful human test-tube fertilisation took place by 1970, it took a further eight years of work by the two men until a breakthrough resulted in a healthy pregnancy and the birth of the first ever 'test-tube baby', Louise Brown, in July 1978.

Louise and her mother Lesley Brown are delighted by the news that Professor Edwards has been awarded the Nobel Prize for his work.

On hearing the news of his award, Louise said,

“Its fantastic news, me and mum are so glad that one of the pioneers of IVF has been given the recognition he deserves. We hold Bob in great affection and are delighted to send our personal congratulations to him and his family at this time.”

Steptoe and Edwards founded the world’s first IVF clinic at Bourn in Cambridge, UK. With a team of research scientists and doctors they developed the treatment and associated procedures that are now used at clinics worldwide. Many of which have been established by embryologists and doctors that were trained at Bourn Hall.

Dr Thomas Mathews, Bourn Hall Clinic’s Medical Director, says,

“I remember first being introduced to Bob in 1983 when I came for an interview at Bourn Hall and being immediately impressed with his passion and enthusiasm for IVF. I also remember his insistence that every member of the team had to maintain his high standards in our clinical and scientific work.

“Even in those early days he was thinking ahead of his time, talking about freezing embryos, blastocyst culture, pre genetic diagnosis (PGD) and ICSI (intra cytoplasmic sperm injection) long before people had thought these scientific techniques could be a reality.

"As a person he always found time to talk to the patients about what was happening in the laboratory and rejoiced when each IVF baby was born. He took great personal pleasure in the news of each birth.”

Professor Edwards became famous worldwide for his work with Patrick Steptoe and his main motivation was his strong desire to help infertile couples conceive.

“Steptoe and I were deeply affected by the desperation felt by couples who so wanted to have children. The most important thing in life is having a child,” he said. “Nothing is more special than a child.”

One of Edwards’ proudest moments was discovering that 1,000 IVF babies had been born at Bourn Hall since Louise Brown. He distinctly remembers the thrill of relaying this to a seriously ill Steptoe, shortly before Steptoe’s death in 1988.

“I’ll never forget the look of joy in his eyes,” said Edwards.

Today, Edwards never fails to be impressed by the new techniques which have developed from his and Steptoe’s groundbreaking work. Techniques perfected at Bourn Hall such as ICSI and blastocyst culture, along with developments in gamete freezing, have significantly increased success rates.

Martin Johnson, Professor of Reproductive Sciences at the University of Cambridge and Editor of RBMOnline, was one of Bob’s first research students. He says,

“I'm naturally delighted that Bob Edwards has been awarded the Nobel Prize, following on from the Lasker Prize that he won about ten years ago; this enables Bob to achieve his proper recognition. It is truly wonderful that such an engaging, warm and generous person, as well as a visionary in science, can be acknowledged in this way for all his many achievements.

“He was a man much ahead of his time not just in IVF, but in preimplantation genetic diagnosis, the derivation of embryonic stem cells, and also for his publications and lectures on ethics in science and the role of regulation, where again he was way ahead of others. His achievements are not just over 4 million babies worldwide born through assisted reproductive technology, but also the way that he transformed the whole approach to research and care in reproductive medicine and gynaecology. It is very sad that his colleagues Patrick Steptoe and Jean Purdy aren't alive to share this prize with him."

The medicine award was the first of the 2010 Nobel Prizes to be announced. The prestigious awards were created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, and first handed out in 1901, five years after his death. Each award includes 10 million Swedish kronor (about £1 million), a diploma and a gold medal.

About Bourn Hall Clinic

Bourn Hall Clinic, the world’s first and best known assisted conception clinic, was established in 1980 by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, the pioneers of IVF. Through innovative thinking the clinic maintains a leading role in the field.

About Professor Robert Edwards

Professor Robert Edwards, Pensioner Fellow at Churchill College and Emeritus Professor of Human Reproduction at the University, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on 4 September 2010.

Edwards, born 27 September 1925, in Batley Yorkshire, was educated at the University of Bangor and the University of Edinburgh. In 1963, he joined the University ofCambridge as the Ford Foundation Research Fellow at the Department of Physiology, and a member of Churchill College.

Edwards began work on fertilisation in 1955, and began his partnership with Dr Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecologist, in 1968. In 1978, a breakthrough resulted in a healthy pregnancy and the birth of the first ever 'test-tube baby', Louise Brown. 

Edwards and Steptoe went on to found the world’s first IVF clinic at Bourn Hall, Cambridge. Before Dr Steptoe died in 1988, Edwards, now a Professor of Human Reproduction at Cambridge, was able to tell his seriously ill colleague that 1,000 babies had been conceived at the clinic.

In 2001 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge, and the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award for the development of in vitro fertilization. Now aged 85, Edwards is a Pensioner Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge. Over 4 million children have now been born as a result of IVF.

Dear Embryology Practitioner,

We are pleased to announce the first continuing education module (CE) from the American College of Embryology.

Unlike any other CE in our area of practice, the College is offering an in-depth on-line course structured around the syllabus of the only approved PhD program in reproductive laboratory sciences.

The new modules will be added continuously to cover the entire body of knowledge. 

The syllabus and questions can be found here.

There is no charge for online access to the supporting education materials.

However, there is a fee for on line examination ($25 for members and $40 for non-members) plus $20 CE tracking.

Education material is the same for all levels of certification. However, the passing score is different for each education level.

If you would be interested in contributing to the American College of Embryology education program, please contact me at the email below. 

Please note that the examination platform for this CE module will be available after December 1st, 2010. 

Doris J. Baker, Ph.D., EMB (ACE), HCLD(ABB), MT(ASCP)

Chair, Education Committee

American College of Embryology

Telephone: 1 (800) 644 3218 ext 12

E-mail: [email protected]

Professor, Center of Excellence in Reproductive Sciences

Director of Graduate Studies, Reproductive Sciences University of Kentucky

126E CTW Building

900 South Limestone

Lexington, KY 40536-0200

Telephone:  (859) 218-0854

Fax: (859) 323-8957

E-mail: [email protected]

New research has revealed many men receiving treatment for cancer are not offered the chance to bank their sperm. Chemotherapy drugs may cause fertility problems in both men and women, but patients may choose to store their sperm or eggs prior to treatment for future use.

Dr Ann Adams, an author of the study from Warwick Medical School, said their findings: 'are very concerning and show that doctors in the UK aren't following sperm banking guidance, meaning many men are missing the opportunity to store their sperm for the future'.

Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) states all men and adolescent boys undergoing cancer treatment which may leave them infertile should be offered the chance to store their sperm. 'Instead it appears that clinicians are deciding who is offered the chance to bank sperm based on their own personal beliefs, attitudes and assumptions about their patients' likelihood of starting a family in the future', said Dr Adams.

The researchers from the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust designed a questionnaire, which was sent to oncologists and haematologists across the UK on the advice they give male cancer patients.

Of the 499 clinicians who responded, only half agreed that information on sperm banking is readily available to patients, and 21 percent of them were unaware of local policies on sperm banking. Only 26 percent of oncologists and 38 percent of haematologists said they routinely documented conversations with patients about banking their sperm. However, nearly all the clinicians believed advising on this issue was integral to their role.

The survey also revealed doctors' own assumptions on patients' needs for sperm banking depending on age, sexual orientation and severity of illness and - in some cases - their own moral conclusions, influenced whether they discussed sperm banking with patients.

Commenting on the study, Dr Allan Pacey, Senior Lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: 'There have been a number of studies over the years showing doctors do not always offer men the opportunity to bank sperm prior to cancer treatment. However, most studies are from North America and so it is alarming to discover that this is also happening in the UK where we have clear professional guidance and an extensive sperm banking infrastructure'. He added: 'Sperm banking not only preserves fertility, but also has psychological benefit to men diagnosed with cancer'.

Professor Geraldine Hartshorne, co-author of the study, said: 'We're urging clinicians to discuss sperm banking with all their male cancer patients. Improved awareness and access to training for clinicians would hopefully increase both the opportunity and the uptake of sperm banking for cancer patients'.

Martin Ledwick, head information nurse at Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, said: 'More and more people are surviving cancer so findings ways to improve their quality of life after treatment is becoming increasingly important'. The study was published in the journal Annals of Oncology.

A new study suggests factors other than a couple's underlying fertility problems may explain an increased risk of cerebral palsy seen in children born following fertility treatment. Researchers at the University of Aarhus in Denmark who conducted the study emphasised the overall risk of cerebral palsy in children conceived through IVF or ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) remains very low - approximately 0.57 percent, or one in every 176 babies born.

In a study of more than 90,000 children from the Danish National Birth Cohort, Dr Jin Liang Zhu and colleagues compared rates of cerebral palsy in children conceived naturally, after different lengths of time taken for couples to conceive, with those conceived through IVF/ICSI. The length of time taken to conceive was used as a measure of a couple's fertility - in couples that struggle to conceive within a year, one or both partners may have an underlying fertility problem.

The researchers found the rates of cerebral palsy in children conceived after more than one year of trying and children conceived within two months of trying were not different. Children born through IVF/ICSI, however, had approximately double the risk of cerebral palsy compared with children conceived within two months of trying. This finding was observed even after adjusting for factors such as the mother's age and smoking status, and after adjusting for premature or multiple births, which are known to be more common in IVF pregnancies.

The researchers concluded underlying fertility problems did not account for the increased risk of cerebral palsy associated with IVF/ICSI. Other factors that might be contributing to the increased risk are unclear, but may include the procedure itself, or complications of multiple pregnancy.

Dr Zhu said: 'Our research enabled us to examine whether untreated subfertility, measured by time to pregnancy, might be the reason for the higher risk of cerebral palsy after IVF/ICSI. Our results showed this was not the case because, even for couples that took a year or longer to conceive, there was no statistically significant increased risk'.

'It is important to stress that the risks of cerebral palsy after IVF/ICSI are low. Out of more than 90,000 children in the Danish National Birth Cohort, born between 1997 and 2003, only 165 (0.18 percent) were diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Of the 3,000 children in this cohort born after IVF/ICSI, only 17 (0.57 percent) had cerebral palsy', he said.

Another recent study of over 2.6 million children in Sweden found the risk of cerebral palsy increased in multiple birth pregnancies rather than as a result of IVF itself. The Swedish researchers suggested that the practice of only transferring one embryo back into the mother during the IVF treatment rather than two or more, which has become common in recent years, might account for the reduction in cases of cerebral palsy that has been lately observed.

Cerebral palsy is a rare disease in the UK, affecting approximately two per 1,000 live births in the general population. Although the overall risk is low, given that more than 12,000 children are born through IVF every year in the UK, the issues 'deserve further research', according to Professor Richard Fleming from the Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine, to determine how to reduce the risk of cerebral palsy.

The UK's High Court has granted legal parenthood to the parents of a child born using a surrogate in the United States to allow them to keep the child in the country.

The couple had enlisted the help of an American woman from Illinois to act as a surrogate for their child. The child was born in the United States and allowed into the UK temporarily on an American passport and the couple sought a parental order to allow the child to remain in the UK.

In granting the order, Mr Justice Hedley said that although the parents had paid an unspecified sum to the surrogate - described by the parties as 'compensation' - which exceeded the threshold of 'reasonable expenses', all other requirements had been 'fully met'. The surrogate had acted of her own free will and one of the couple was the biological parent of the child.

In describing the existing rules on restricting payments as 'somewhat opaque', Mr Justice Hedley clarified: 'Welfare is not merely the court's first consideration, but becomes its paramount consideration', he said. 'The effect of that must be to weight the balance between public policy considerations and welfare decisively in favour of welfare'.

Although not unlawful in the UK, surrogacy arrangements are not enforceable by the courts. In the absence of a parental order conferring legal parental status, a surrogate is considered under law as the child's mother - even if both the commissioning parent's gametes are used and there is no genetic link between the surrogate and child.

The law also imposes restrictions on surrogacy arrangements made for financial gain. But the court emphasised: '...it will only be in the clearest case of the abuse of public policy that the court will be able to withhold a (parental) order if otherwise welfare considerations support its making'.

Some critics have suggested the decision may open the floodgates to British couples seeking surrogacy arrangements abroad but the law firm Gamble and Ghevaert LLP, acting for the couple, said the decision was 'a step towards alleviating the plight of vulnerable surrogate-born children'.

The firm, which specialises in fertility and parenting law, warned: 'While foreign surrogacy arrangements can seem attractive, great care needs to be taken over the legal issues. English law will not automatically recognise your status as the parents even if you are named on a foreign birth certificate and this can lead to difficulties over immigration and citizenship'.

US researchers have shown a correlation between human eggquality and blood bisphenol A (BPA) levels. In a small-scale study women with higher blood BPA levels showed decreased fertilisation rates when undergoing IVF treatment.

'While preliminary, the data indicate the negative effect of BPA on reproductive health and the importance of allocating more funding to further investigate why such environmental contaminants might be disrupting fertility potential', said Professor Victor Fujimoto of the University of San Francisco, who led the study.

BPA is a chemical commonly used in the production of clear, hard plastics and in epoxy resins for coating food and drinks cans. It has long been known to be an endocrine disrupter - a substance that interferes with the body's natural hormones. Consequently, the use of BPA is tightly regulated and its potential for harm assessed by bodies such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

'Given the widespread nature of BPA exposure in the US, even a modest effect on reproduction is of substantial concern', said Dr Michael Bloom, who was also involved in the study at the State University of New York.

The study measured the blood BPA levels of 26 women who were undergoing IVF treatment at the time. A doubling of BPA levels in blood correlated with a 55 percent drop in successfully fertilisedeggs.

'Unfortunately, at this time there is no clinically available test to determine BPA levels in women. Despite the limited evidence, a cautious approach for women who are considering IVF treatment would be to reduce their exposure to BPA through modifications in lifestyle and diet', said Dr Fujimoto.

The latest EFSA report released this year maintains that current exposure levels to BPA from commercial products does not pose a significant health risk and therefore withdrawal of BPA from commercial use is not warranted.

This study was published in Fertility and Sterility.

Visit ACE Website

The Association of Clinical Embryologists (ACE) is the professional body of and for embryologists. ACE is conceived with the intention to promote high standards of practice in clinical embryology and to support the professional interests of embryologists working in India.

ACE aim is to promote interest and understanding in the reproductive biology. This is possible by continuous research in the ART field and application of the findings to human reproduction. To achieve this goal it is essential to establish better co-ordination between scientist and clinicians.

ACE team/family is dedicated to promote clinical embryology by Continuous education in reproductive biology viz

• Continued medical education, regional trainings,web-based learning, Certificate/PG diploma courses
• Networking of professionals in the clinical embryology in India
• Representation before legislative and regulatory bodies.
• Establishment of laboratory practice guidelines.
• Develop a code of conduct and high standards of routine lab procedures
• Support the research activities of embryologists through collaborations with reproductive biology research groups in india and abroad
• Consulting link-ups and experts who are on hand to fellow ACE members for consulting and troubleshooting.
• To enable the clinical embryology practitioners the basic knowledge in life sciences and medicine so as to deal with the gametes and embryos with utmost responsibilities and ethical manner.

The office bearers and committee members wellcomes you to join ACE – India.

The features include free email with your own name: [email protected]

Monthly Newsletter - FERTILITY NEWS
Quarterly Megazine - FERTILITY NEWS MEG

Annual Conference and Training Workshops

Members, shall be having 50% Off on all Conferences and Trainings, and priority based registrations.

Inclusion of complete details, alongwith details of your clinical facility on GIVF Club website

2 Annual Training Sessions for IVF Physicians

2 Annual Training Sessions for Embryologyst

Support for IUI, IVF, ICSI lab setups - technical, equipment and human resource

The membership to the GIVFClub is free of cost uptil 1st March 2011.

To get registered, forward your CV to [email protected] for review and formal invitation alongwith membership form

Upon receipt of membership form, simply fill out the form attach the required documents and mail to GIVF Club - Secretariat Office

You will receive your login passwords, and an impresive membership card alongwith certificate within 4 weeks of registration

WWW.GIVFCLUB.COM

A recent review paper emphasises the need for improved provision of fertility information, especially regarding age-associated risks, as the trend for women having children later in life continues.

Dr David Utting, Specialty Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Kingston Hospital NHS Trust who co-authored the review, said: 'Clear facts on fertility be made available to women of all ages to remind them that the most secure age for childbearing remains 20 to 35. However women and doctors should remain vigilant to prevent unplanned and unwanted pregnancies'.

The review says basic information about pregnancy including contraception, normal cycles, the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases and age-related risks should be reinforced through schools, family planning and sexual health clinics and the media, so the general public can be better informed.

The age of first-time mothers has risen from 23 in 1968 to 29.3 in 2008 and women aged 30 to 34 are more likely to enter into motherhood than any other age group, based on data from the Office for National Statistics. The authors propose a wider choice of reliable contraception as a possible reason and refer to the results of a 2006 survey in which most women described career and money, with a number also highlighting the need to find a suitable partner, as delaying motherhood.

According to the review, 'at the age of 25 just five percent of women take longer than a year to conceive with regular intercourse, rising to 30 percent in those aged 35'. An increased risk with age of miscarriage and other pregnancy related complications including premature births and stillbirths was also identified.

Interestingly the authors discuss the male 'biological clock' and said a man's fertility similarly declines with age. They estimate that the average 40-year-old male takes two years to get his partner pregnant, even if she is in her twenties.

Together with Dr Susan Bewley, a consultant obstetrician at Guy's & St Thomas', London, Dr Utting did not present any new findings but reviewed previous studies on fertility. They recommend efforts be focused on preventing infertility and that IVF is not relied upon to make up for the delay and physiological decline in motherhood.

'This review highlights the problems associated with later maternal age. Women should be given more information on the unpredictability of pregnancy and the problems that can occur in older mothers' said Jason Waugh the Editor-in-Chief of The Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in which the review was published.