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--John Hernandez 09:37, 30 July 2011 (EST)

Lab 1 Assessment

1. Identify the origin of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and the 2010 nobel prize winner associated with this technique.

Origin of IVF

Studies and experiments about IVF have been going for more than a hundred years now. The first experiments and studies could date as far back as 1878, which involved the fertilisation of mammalian eggs in vitro, but were all unsuccessful. The source of this problem is the lack of knowledge about the need for egg cell maturation, sperm cell capacitation, and the correct media and condition for fertilisation. It was not until Austin and Chang coined and postulated sperm capacitaion that the technology produce more successful results.

Robert Edwards

He was the Nobel Prize laureate in 2010 in Physiology or Medicine for his contribution to the development of in vitro fertilisation. His work involved the development of a human culture media that allowed fertilisation and early embryo culture.

1. Identify a recent paper on fertilisation and describe its key findings.

1. Identify 2 congenital anomalies.

• Arterial Septal Defect - type of congenital heart defect, whereby the blood flow between the left and right atria is through the interatrial septum
• Spina Bifida - type of developmental congenital disorder, whereby there is an incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube.