Identification of factors essential for oocyte viability

目前，大约2%的澳大利亚儿童是通过体外受精技术受孕的，这使得不孕夫妇能够生育自己的孩子。然而，试管婴儿技术的一个主要后果是多胎妊娠（即双胞胎和三胞胎），这对母亲及其婴儿来说是一个重大的健康风险。此外，IVF增加了出生缺陷，这主要是由于多胎妊娠增加，但也在涉及单个婴儿的妊娠中观察到。至关重要的是，IVF技术的发展，使一个胚胎转移到母亲，导致一个健康的婴儿出生，没有多余的胚胎处理的道德问题。接受试管婴儿的妇女需要注射激素，刺激卵巢中的卵子成熟，使其能够被伴侣的精子受精。这些激素被称为促性腺激素，它们会超越人体自身的卵巢刺激系统，导致许多卵子成熟并被收集用于受精，而不是通常只有一个。通过这种方式，可以选择最好的胚胎移植回母体，其他胚胎可以冷冻并储存以供日后使用。然而，大剂量的促性腺激素会产生后果。它们可能对一些对其效力敏感的患者造成危险，并刺激大量反应。它们还降低了卵子和后续胚胎的质量，从而降低了怀孕的机会。如果可以从未成熟状态的卵巢中收集卵子并在实验室中实现成熟，则可以避免这一切。然而，尽管尝试过，但这并不是一项成功的技术，主要是因为我们不了解人类卵子成熟的过程。我们的研究将调查非人类卵子和胚胎的生物化学，生理学和遗传学，这些卵子是在实验室中生长和成熟的，以开发在实验室中成功成熟人类卵子的技术。

Approximately 2% Australia children are now conceived using in vitro fertilisation technologies, allowing infertile couples to bear their own children. However, a major consequence of IVF techniques is multiple pregnancies (i.e. twins and triplets) which is a major health risk to mothers and their infants. Furthemore, IVF increases birth defects, which are mostly attributed to the increased multiple pregnancies, but is also observed in pregnancies involving a single infant. It is essential that IVF techniques are developed that enables the transfer of a single embryo to the mother resulting in the birth of a single healthy baby, without the ethical concerns of surplus embryo disposal. Women receiving IVF are required to adminster hormones that stimulate the eggs in their ovaries to mature to the point where they can be fertilised by their partner's sperm. These hormones, called gonadotrophins, override the body's own ovarian stimulating system and cause many eggs to mature and be collected for fertilisation, instead of normally just one. In this way, the best embryo(s) can be selected for transfer back to the mother, and other embryos can be frozen and stored for later use. However, large doses of gonadotrophins has consequences. They can be dangerous to some patients who are sensitive to their potency, and stimulate a massive response. They also reduce the quality of eggs and subsequent embryos, which reduces the chances of a pregnancy. All this can be avoided if eggs can be collected from ovaries in an immature state and maturation achieved in the laboratory. However, although attempted, this has not been a successful technique, primarily because we don't understand the process of human egg maturation. Our research will investigate the biochemistry, physiology and genetics of non-human eggs and embryos resulting from eggs that are grown and matured in the laboratory, to develop techniques for the successful maturation of human eggs in the laboratory.