It’s good to hear some amazing news from the world of assisted reproduction. It comes to you via my visit to the ESHRE conference, held in Lisbon last June. ESHRE is the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology. Quite a mouthful!  Anyone who’s anybody, in the assisted reproduction and IVF world, gets together to see what’s new and catch up.

It’s here that all sorts of new gizmos and gadgets are offered up, along with presentations from leaders in reproductive health and research, who share various study results. Meeting like-minded people and discussing the latest thinking and fertility options is exhilarating … and exhausting!

I took some well-deserved R & R at the seaside and enjoyed a super week in not-so-sunny Portugal!

My most interesting take-home to share with you is the buzz concerning ovary function – and the amazing Egg Precursor Cells discovered within the protective ovarian lining.

Born with all your eggs?

For decades women have lived with the stark limitation of their ovarian reserve dwindling by the year, as eggs age and die. How true is this old chestnut? What if these are only spare eggs?  Thinking around this began to change since the discovery in 2012 of Ovary Germ Cells – which make new eggs from scratch!  These were first identified in mice 11 years ago by Jonathan Tilly.

OvaScience Inc. is the life science company developing products to improve the treatment of female infertility based on these scientific discoveries about the existence of  these ‘egg precursor cells.’ Share prices are rising fast as they develop treatments to locate these cells and encourage them to develop into brand new eggs. Doctors remain cautiously optimistic until studies are complete.

Ovascience

Their ‘Augment’ treatment is a new fertility option specifically designed to improve egg health. They hold a license from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) directed to methods of identifying and purifying egg precursor cells, compositions comprising egg precursor cells and methods of using egg precursor cells to treat infertility and related disorders.

Treatment options are Augment, OvaTure and Ova Prime. Augment boosts quality after egg harvesting. OvaTure involves the creation of mature fertilizable eggs from a woman’s own egg precursor cells and Ova Prime starts from the get go.

Ovascience hosted a  glittering dinner-seminar at the magnificent aquarium in Lisbon. The food was delicious and the wine flowed as I’ve never seen before! An international panel of distinguished speakers shared promising results of their preliminary research studies with a distinguished audience of researchers.

So now women over 35, and those facing the spectre of a looming 40th birthday,, can take heart in the cleverness of their ovaries no longer limited by gloomy AMH results!

Watch this space for more fertility updates.