Marcos Meseguer PhD - Scientific Supervisor and Senior Embryologist, IVI Valencia
Dr. Marcos Meseguer was born in November 1974, received his Biological Sciences Degree in 1997 from the University of Valencia in Spain.
He performed a pre-doctoral fellowship in St Mary´s Hospital, Manchester University, United Kingdom. He received his Ph.D. Degree in Obstetrics and Gynecoloy in 2002 from the University of Valencia, Spain, and the European Doctor Degree form the same university. He has also a master degree in Research Methods; Design and Statistics from Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain.
Actually is Senior Embriologist and Scientific Supervisor in the IVF unit of IVI Valencia. He was Co-Director of the Andrology Laboratory at the Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad (IVI) from 2000 to 2004.
Dr. Meseguer is a member of various scientific societies and has received the prize paper of the Society of Reproduction and Infertility (American Society of Reproductive Medicine). The Robert Edwards Prize paper award from RBMO on line, three times the Lalor Foundation International Award from the American Society of Andrology, four times the reasearch award from the Spanish Society of Fertility and three times the Spanish Society of Clinical Embryologist.
The primary areas of his research are embryology and male infertility. Specifically he is focused on time-lapse research and sperm selection methods being author of patents related with embryo quality assessment.
As Principal Investigator, his work has been funded through 8 projects sponsored by the Spanish Government and the Valencian Government, including two EUREKA projects (granted to high quality technological projects) supported by the European Community.
He has published over 115 articles and 50 reviews or book chapters, made more than 300 presentations at national and international congresses. He has been the Director of 6 Doctoral Thesis all qualified with "Cum Laude", and actually is directing 9 doctoral thesis.
He is also currently Statistic Advisor in IVI Valencia the biggest infertility clinic in Spain and one of the most important in Europe, and associate professor of the Master in Biotechnology from Valencia University.
Project: Embryo viability measurement combining Oxidative stress and time-lapse
The planned project will further validate the quality of oxidative stress as a biomarker assisting embryo selection. We plan to improve the correlation formula between the measured parameters of TCL Analyzer and the embryo viability (expressed as a score to compare each embryo with the same cohort of embryos of the same patient). The main goal of the project is building a combined assessment algorithm that will include the information from the time-lapse system (kinetic information of cleavage), information from TCL Analyzer (biochemical measurement that examines the oxidative profile, (also connected to signal transduction which is based on free radicals activity), the metabolism of the embryo with the culture media where it grows. The TCL Analyzer has shown to be an effective tool to predict the viability of an embryo. An study that tested over 270 embryo showed that TCL can provide good prediction of embryos to be transferred and assist in selecting the most viable embryos by testing the spent culture media. The system is based on measuring oxidative stress and oxidizability that are used as biomarkers indicating the chances for pregnancy. Several studies by our group has demostrated the utility of time-lapse morphokinetics to assess embryo quality and improve embryo selection for transfer.
The project may use morphological data and examines whether a united score of these two (three sources) will provide a better prediction and will increase the success rate of the IVF process. The project will include Retrospective studies of 200 cycles, (we plan to conduct both Single embryo transfer study and multi embryo transfer study) One “branch of the study will compare the measured parameter and the algorithm with the rate of reaching blastocyst when the embryo will further be incubated.
Prospective study of 200 cycles (including control group), and additional study that will test the combined score given by TCL and the time lapse system.
Another goal of the project is examining optimal time for transfer and the connection between the time and the effectivity of the various algorithms. We’ll also examine whether there is a connection between the type of the culture media and the results.