Research

Research

Cleveland Clinic's Fertility Center at Beachwood not only provides the most up-to-date clinical care, but also boasts an active research program.

The focus of the research at the Fertility Center is the study of human in vitro fertilization and methodology to enhance clinical IVF outcomes. The state-of-the-art laboratories at this center have facilitated a wide range of both clinical and basic research studies detailing embryonic growth in vitro and relationship to blastocyst development, differentiation and pregnancy outcome.

  • Research Staff & Latest Projects
    • The research staff is comprised of clinical embryologists, andrologists, post-doctoral fellows and physicians. Current projects include vitrification, assessment of growth factor influence on blastocyst differentiation, embryonic cell death and apoptosis, in vitro maturation (IVM) of preantral follicles and non-invasive techniques for assessing embryo vitality.
    • Our latest research efforts have resulted in the successful introduction of vitrification technology into the clinical IVF lab for human embryo cryopreservation.
  • Novel Technology
    • Another milestone for our laboratory has been development of a novel technology for cryopreservation of individual sperm cells isolated from men with severe male factor infertility. Follicle maturation in vitro is another new frontier being explored. IVM is currently being offered to select patients not responding well to conventional IVF protocols.
    • Another new initiative within the IVF laboratory has been establishment of technology for human oocyte cryopreservation. Methodology for all of these new and future technologies are worked out in the IVF Research lab at Beachwood.
    • The strong link between the IVF research and the clinical lab at Cleveland Clinic's Fertility Center in Beachwood has been instrumental in developing “high tech” solutions to improve clinical IVF.
Training

Training

Training opportunities in clinical embryology and andrology techniques are offered by Cleveland Clinic's Fertility Center IVF Lab located in Beachwood. Workshops offer hands-on training in the following areas:

  • Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (Also known as ICSI).
  • Assisted hatching by chemical and laser methodology.
  • Embryo biopsy.
  • Embryo assessment and selection for transfer.
  • Blastocyst cryopreservation.
  • Cleavage stage cryopreservation.
  • Culture techniques.
  • Sperm assessment, preparation and cryopreservation.
  • Testicular sperm preparation and evaluation.
  • Clinical stimulation and hormone replacement protocols.
  • Routine and advanced andrology techniques.