Ninewells Hospital, Dundee

Studies of Embryo Development and Metabolism (R0154)

Licence holder: Anne McConnell

Lay Summary:

The success of in-vitro fertilisation has been slowly improving from research done throughout the world. We would like to culture spare embryos to determine what are the best conditions for their development in the laboratory before transfer to the womb and so improve in-vitro fertilisation for the future. We hope to identify metabolic or biochemical markers of embryo development to enable better embryo selection for transfer. Cells from the embryo have the potential to develop into stem cells, which can mature into any cell type in the body such as heart cells or brain cells. These cells could be used in the future to replace damaged heart or brain cells in adults. In Edinburgh a research group is trying to grow stem cells from human embryos. If any embryos in Dundee are suitable they will be transferred to the Edinburgh laboratory for this purpose.