Has preimplantation genetic testing lived up to the high clinical expectations for genetic testing?- namely to eradicate genetic disease and improve delivery rates? The answer varies depending on whether genetic testing is used for specific gene mutations (PGD) or aneuploidy screening (PGS).  Newer technical methods may improve the clinical pay off from both PGS and [...]

In vitro fertilization (IVF) has delivered steadily improving pregnancy rates since the first live birth from IVF in 1978, but future gains in delivery rates may require genetic analysis of embryos before transfer. Not all embryos are created equal. Some transferred embryos will not implant. Some will implant and fail early in the pregnancy. Some [...]

I came across the article, Military Wives Turn to Surrogacy: Labor of Love or Financial Boost? and it annoyed me. I realize that the title and the article are meant to be provocative and this one is just a revival of an old story for a slow news cycle. There have also been other almost [...]

IVF made big news again this week when numerous news outlets picked up the Fertility and Sterility journal article published September 30, 2010, reporting a live birth in May from a cryopreserved embryo that had been frozen nearly two decades ago. The embryo was stored for 19 years and 7 months. The earliest record for [...]

Third party reproduction is an umbrella term that covers using donated sperm, egg, or embryo or  “loaner” uterus to conceive and take home a baby. This option is rarely a first choice and is often the last resort before adoption or deciding to go on without children. As with much of reproductive biology, third party [...]

The Nobel Prize committee announced today that 85 year old British scientist Robert G. Edwards, PhD was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for pioneering human in vitro fertilization lab techniques that culminated in the birth of Louise Brown, the world’s first IVF baby.  Robert Edwards partnered with gynecologist, Patrick Steptoe, MD to bring his [...]