Project description
Embryo metabolism as a marker for IVF success
Millions of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedures are carried out every year, but clinical success is rather low. Selecting an embryo that will successfully implant and lead to a live birth has proved challenging. To address this problem, the EU-funded Embryospin project proposes to develop a novel method that assesses the embryo’s metabolic activity. The method is based on micro nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a miniaturised version of NMR instrumentation ideal for point-of-care medical diagnosis. Embryospin offers a novel biomarker for embryo vitality, which is expected to increase the chances of pregnancy, significantly reducing IVF cycles.
Objective
EmbryoSpin is a proprietary sensor for μNMR, capable to increase the sensitivity by an order of magnitude (10x) with respect to the state-of-the-art, thus allowing the analysis of cells and materials from a completely new viewpoint. Among the host of applications for this technology, the introduction of EmbryoSpin as a fast and effective embryo selection tool during In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments has proven to represent a huge business opportunity. In fact, in more than 1.69 million IVF procedures performed globally each year, embryologists adopt visual inspection to select the embryo that has most chances to be successfully implanted to the uterus, often leading to long time to pregnancy due the selection of the wrong embryo and repeated fertilization cycles. With Embryospin, embryo’s metabolic activity is measured through μNMR and is used as a reliable quantitative marker of embryo’s vitality, thus increasing the chance of pregnancy after a single treatment cycle. This is valuable for women that undergoes less fertilization cycles, and to the clinics that can enhance the number of IVF performed each year. EmbryoSpin equipment and disposable μNMR sensors will serve up to 3,500 IVF treatments, generating 33 M€ of revenues by 2025.
Fields of science
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinegynaecologyreproductive medicine
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineobstetrics
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineembryology
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
1015 LAUSANNE
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.