Together. All the way.

Different assisted fertilisation methods were developed and implemented in the field of IVF during 1980-1990. Out of these methods, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is the most successful method developed¹ and is considered to be one of the major breakthroughs in this field since the birth of Louise Brown in 1978. While assisted fertilisation techniques, including ICSI, were introduced to overcome fertilisation failure in cases of severe male infertility, ICSI is today used in > 60 % of all IVF cycles globally.²

ICSI has frequently been described as 'an accident' in the lab. For me, being part of the development of the ICSI technique, I would rather describe ICSI as an inevitable consequence of the procedure used to perform subzonal insemination. The aim of this blog is, however, not to cover the history of ICSI but rather to focus on aspects that support successful ICSI in the IVF laboratory. 

^{Photo: Knoxville News Sentinel} 

It is with much sadness that we report the passing of Peter Mazur on December 30, 2015. Peter Mazur was a great scientist who contributed enormously to the current knowledge of cryobiology. Cryopreservation of cells and tissues has become important in not only human reproduction, but also in many other areas of medicine.

Can you tell the difference between a validation and a clinical study? Do you know what to consider when starting a randomised controlled trial? Being author or co-author on more than 60 peer reviewed papers I have a keen interest in current regulation regarding clinical studies and will share some of my experience on conducting clinical studies in this blog post. I hope I will be able to help you sort out some of the many variables related to clinical studies and what you need to consider.

Vitrification has in the recent years become the cryopreservation method of choice in many IVF-clinics. With survival rates superior to slow freezing and developmental potential of oocytes and embryos similar to fresh ones, results similar to fresh oocytes and embryos can be obtained. To continuously achieve these high survival rates there are matters to think about. In this blog post I will discuss some important factors.