Volatolomic approaches for improving success rates in assisted reproductive technology

Projektinformationen

ARTVOC

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101131151

DOI

10.3030/101131151

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 3 Oktober 2023

Startdatum 1 Oktober 2023

Enddatum 30 September 2027

Finanziert unter

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Gesamtkosten

Keine Daten

EU-Beitrag

€ 1 495 000,00

Koordiniert durch

EESTI MAAULIKOOL
Estonia

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ARTVOC (Volatolomic approaches for improving success rates in assisted reproductive technology)

Berichtszeitraum: 2023-10-01 bis 2025-09-30

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

Human reproduction represents a worldwide concern due to fertility decrease, while animal reproduction is equally worrying, especially when it affects breeding efficiency.
To overcome this drawback, the assisted reproductive technology (ART) has irrupted as the most important alternative for getting pregnant.
A very important factor that contributes to IVF success is the selection of the most viable embryo from the available cohort.
Our project aims to assess the performance of volatolomic studies (analysis of the volatiles emitted by embryos during in vitro development) as an alternative non-invasive method for embryo selection.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

The activities performed and main achievements of the project during the 1st reporting period are:
(1) Design and fabrication of the first version of the sampling system for the collection of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that emit the embryos during the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) process;
(2) Analysis of the VOCs emitted by IVF produced bovine embryos and the culture medium, employing the Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) technique;
(3) Analysis of the VOCs emitted by the culture medium after the removal of human IVF produced embryos employing the GC-MS technique;
(4) Development of an algorithm for automatic mass spectra and chromatograms analysis in the Python open-source software;
(5) Identification of putative VOCs that are released by embryos, culture medium and mineral oil;
(6) Identification of a putative VOC that discriminates between good and low quality in vitro produced bovine embryos;
(7) Design and fabrication of different sensing substrates;
(8) Fabrication and characterisation of chemical gas sensors based on laser induced graphene sensing films;
(9) Design and fabrication of two different electronic nose (e-nose) systems;
(10) Evaluation of e-nose sensing performance upon exposure to various VOCs

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

The project has contributed new knowledge to the emerging field of volatolomics applied to assisted reproductive technologies (ART). The GC-MS studies led to the identification of putative VOCs that may serve as biomarkers of embryo quality, such as methoxy-phenyl-oxime and 2,4-dimethylfuran, and of possible metabolic stress indicators. The findings also confirmed that direct analysis of the culture medium after embryo removal is not suitable for reliable detection of embryo-specific volatiles. This insight represents an important methodological advance in VOC analysis for IVF applications.

Annual project meeting

Activities at the animal facilities of the Reproductive Biotechnology Laboratory of UCC, Colombia

Secondees at Estonian University of Life Sciences

Project presentation at a school in Pamplona, Colombia

Industrial exposure