Rita Vassena

A new technique developed at the Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC) has succeeded in assessing the health of mouse oocytes and embryos in a non-invasive way, according to a study published in PNAS. The method generates 3D images to visualise the metabolism of oocytes and embryos obtained by in vitro fertilisation and makes it possible to select those that are most likely to implant and develop, say the authors.

A team of researchers has demonstrated how a non-invasive ultrasound technique can increase the movement of human sperm in the laboratory by up to 266%. Using microfluidic droplets to evaluate individual sperm cells, which had not been done before, they found that ultrasound exposure induced movement in immobile sperm and improved swimming speeds in mobile ones. The work is published today in the journal Science Advances.

Two decades of research has found no differences in psychological well-being and the quality of family relationships between children born through assisted reproduction with third-party intervention (gamete donation or surrogacy) and those born naturally. The results, published in Developmental Psychology, suggest that it is better to talk to them early, at preschool age, about their biological origins.

A sperm donor in the Netherlands has allegedly fathered more than 550 children in at least 13 clinics in the Netherlands and other countries. One of the mothers of these children and the Donorkind Foundation (Netherlands) have sued him. In Spain, there is a national registry of gamete and pre-embryo donors, and the law on assisted human reproduction techniques does not allow more than six babies to be born from the same donor. 

A study published in the journal PLOS Medicine concludes that the development and academic outcomes of girls and boys conceived with in vitro fertilisation (IVF) are no different from those of children conceived naturally. The analysis is based on data from two national assessments in Australia, including more than 585,000 children born between 2005 and 2014 (more than 11,000 conceived by IVF). The first assessment measured the physical and emotional and cognitive health of children aged 4-6 years; the second focused on the numeracy and verbal skills of schoolchildren aged 7-9 years.

Several results confirm that vaccination against covid-19 does not affect fertility. One of them, carried out on some 2,000 couples and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, compares the ability to conceive naturally in vaccinated and unvaccinated couples. The other, in Obstetrics & Gynecology, studies some 1,300 vaccinated and unvaccinated women who have used different assisted reproductive techniques. Neither paper finds a link between vaccination and pregnancy.