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Infertility is the inability to conceive a child after a certain period of time the length of which varies by country. The term can also refer to women who are unable to carry a pregnancy to term. Infertility has many different causes, including polycystic ovary syndrome and low sperm quality.
The burden of male infertility is often unrecognized and its causes are poorly understood. Efforts to increase awareness and understanding are being undertaken to improve fertility outcomes and overall health for affected men.
Uninterrupted embryo culture and time-lapse monitoring are increasingly offered to people undergoing IVF — but a randomized study fails to show any benefit over routine embryo-selection methods.
The largest whole-exome sequencing study of individuals with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) so far identifies 20 new disease-associated genes, yields an overall genetic contribution to POI of 23.5%, and provides detailed characterization of the genetic landscape of this disorder.
Over the past fifty years, intellectual property has not played a major role in the spread of assisted reproductive technology, but with in vitro gametogenesis — a technique likely to dominate the future of reproduction — it might.
