Lab adjustments lead to 40 per cent IVF success boost

Adjusting lab environments to mimic the conditions inside a women’s body has been found to boost the chance of pregnancy by 40 per cent in IVF cases.

The lab equipment, developed at Newcastle University, could significantly reduce the cost of IVF treatment as well as significantly enhancing results in the future. IVF is still far from fail-safe, and some women are forced to undergo multiple courses costing between £3,000 and £15,000.

IVF processes that occur outside the incubator have been found to be most susceptible to failures. Varying temperatures and air quality can be potentially harmful to the embryo, which is why experts at the Newcastle Fertility Centre looked into creating a ‘lab in box’, in order to remedy this pitfall.

The lab in box is a chain of interlinked incubators with in-built microscopes, which allows scientists to work with and examine the embryo without taking it out of the incubator. This is a process that would usually take place outside of the womb, but success rates have been found to be much-improved if incubator conditions are sustained.

Professor Mary Hebert, who helped draw up the system, said: “Our aim was to  keep eggs and embryos in conditions similar to those they would experience naturally inside a woman’s body.

“This led our team to design and develop a system in which it is possible to perform all of the technical procedures while maintaining stable conditions throughout the IVF process.”

Published by Ben Evans