University of York
Biochemistry of early human embryos (R0067)
Licence holder: Professor Henry Leese
Up to 1 in 6 couples find difficulty in conceiving. For many, one solution to their infertility is In Vitro Fertilisation and Embryo Transfer (IVF-ET) the so-called "test tube baby" treatment, which was pioneered in the UK in the late 1970s. This treatment has helped many thousands of couples to have children, but success rates remain disappointingly low with a live birth rate per treatment cycle in the UK of only around 23%.
Moreover, since 2, exceptionally 3 embryos may be transferred in any one treatment cycle, there is a high risk of multiple births. While the birth of a baby is a cause for joy, multiple births can unfortunately bring problems; the babies are often underweight and peri-natal mortality is above average; the parents may also have problems in coping with the arrival of a large family.
There is now good agreement amongst doctors and embryologists that a solution to these problems would be to transfer single embryos with a high chance of forming a pregnancy. However, we know very little about how human embryos are formed and what makes some embryos healthier than others. The aim of our work is therefore to carry out a detailed examination of the development of the early human embryo.
The focus is on nutrition and metabolism: how the embryo obtains and uses the nutrients it requires; for example, sugars and amino acids. In this way we will learn how to improve culture conditions and devise diagnostic methods that allow the transfer of single, healthy embryos with a high chance of giving rise to a pregnancy and minimise the risk of multiple births. Eventually, this will help ensure the health of babies born following natural conception as well as IVF. While we use cattle and pig embryos (made from abattoir-derived eggs) in our work, it is essential to carry out research on spare human embryos to ensure that the data reflect as closely as possible the situation in human IVF.
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Page last updated: 11 April 2009
