IVF babies’ crucial first days
(wz) THE long-term health of IVF babies is of special interest to University of Adelaide research student Deirdre Zander.
Her mother became pregnant with her in 1979 as a result of the “ovulation induction technique” performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by university researchers.
Now Ms Zander works for independent medical service Repromed, making human embryos. She says it can be surreal and quite daunting, but also rewarding.
“What we’re doing is outside the body, it’s not in a natural environment, even though we’re trying to make it as natural as possible,” she said.
Ms Zander is researching how embryos deal with stress in the first five days.
“That’s the real hot topic at the moment, understanding how what happens in those first five days can affect you for the rest of your life,” she said.
Research Centre for Reproductive Health director Professor Robert Norman said there were still questions over the long-term health of IVF babies. more…
From: »AdelaideNow«