Giving Compass' Take:

• UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital is a health institution working to preserve fertility in men and women by continuing to research and utilize IVF treatment and procedures. 

• The institution still faces hurdles in preserving fertility. How can philanthropists in the healthcare and science community support funding for research projects that sustain IVF? 

• Want to learn more about funding scientific research? Read the Milken Institute Guide. 

Hope is the incredible gift that Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe, the pioneers who made in vitro fertilization (IVF) possible, gave to the generations that followed them. They continued experiments, even though society feared that “test-tube babies” pushed past boundaries never meant to be crossed.

Now 40 years after Louise Brown, the first child born through IVF (where the egg is fertilized with sperm in the laboratory instead of the body), this gift affects millions. The astonishing breakthrough has gone beyond initial, seemingly insurmountable steps and moved into realms that include routine egg and embryo freezing for patients uncertain if they are ready to pursue childbearing.

I am a reproductive endocrinologist at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh. Here at our institution, we are dedicated to seeking innovative ways to preserve fertility. My own research focus has been an improvement of access to care for these patients, and I am humbled by the methods we have available and in development. As we continue to bridge the gap in experimental models, we are seeking to improve methods for ovarian transplant in patients who are ready to attempt pregnancy with previously preserved ovarian tissue.

We fertility researchers still have challenges in front of us. Experimental options, such as ovarian tissue or testicular tissue preservation, are performed at academic centers such as Magee-Womens Hospital for those who can not use conventional technology. These are almost exclusively for patients with a medical reason to suspect their future fertility is in jeopardy. Pre-pubertal males who might face loss of future reproductive function due to planned chemotherapy might seek testicular tissue freezing as their only option.

Read the full article about IVF research and procedures by Marie Menke at The Conversation