User:Z3332863

Lab Attendance

Lab 1

--Z3332863 11:47, 25 July 2012 (EST)

Individual Assessments

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Lab1

Origin of Nobel Prize & Discoverer

In 2010, Robert G. Edwards won the Nobel Prize for developing In vitro Fertilisation. IVF originated in 1950s when Edwards began fertilizing human eggs in cell culture dishes as a way of treating infertility. In 1978, Edward's IVF technology gave the world's first IVF baby. Over the next few years, Edwards and his team fine-tuned the technique of IVF.

[1]

Research paper on fertilisation:

<pubmed>22317970</pubmed>

What does this paper tell us about fertilisation?

This article looks at the rise of aneuploidies in IVF embryos from women around 40yrs of age. To do this Handyside et al, used 'microarray comparative genomic hybridisation' technology to study the chromosome copy number in the zygote, the 1st and 2nd polar bodies in older women receiving IVF treatment. Handyside et al found that:

• Most of the aneuploidies of IVF embryos arose from the 2nd meiotic division of the oocyte. This is surprising because most aneuploidies in naturally fertilized embryos arise from Meiosis I of the oocyte.
• Aneuploidies in IVF zygotes were not due to non-disjunction of chromosomes in the oocyte. Instead, these Aneuploidies were due to predivision of the chromatids in the oocyte.
• In IVF zygotes made from aged oocytes, often there were multiple aneuploidies in 1 zygote.

By looking at the origin of aneuploidies in IVF zygotes, these scientists are trying to find a way to reduce these aneuploidies.

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