Graphic by Sunny Wei ‘23.
Elizabeth Mazzarelli ’26
Staff Writer
The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine elected to award the 2010 prize to Robert G. Edwards, Ph. D. In conjunction with Patrick Steptoe M. D., Edwards developed the process of human in vitro fertilization. The Nobel Committee estimates that infertility, a condition in which abnormalities occurring in both the male and female reproductive systems cause difficulty with conception, impacts upwards of one-tenth of the global population. Edwards and Steptoe recognized this reality roughly half a century ago and set about discovering the practice that, in 1978, allowed the duo to successfully make human life from a Petri dish, implant said embryo in a uterus, and guide their patient through a nine-month gestation period that culminated in the birth of the first test tube baby: Louise Brown.
Penn Medicine distills the process into five prominent stages. Superovulation describes the period during which the prospective parent receives drugs like Follicle Stimulating Hormone to stimulate egg production beyond the monthly quota of one.
Roughly thirty-six hours before having one’s eggs harvested, yet another dose of hormones is delivered in the form of an injection intended to increase the maturation rate of the eggs. Then, follicular aspiration is performed. This outpatient surgery involves the insertion of a needle through the vagina to collect the ripened eggs from the ovaries, according to Penn Medicine.
Next, the other half of the genetic material — the sperm sample — is collected. According to Penn Medicine, in order to then filter out the unhealthy sperm, the sample is subjected to a rigorous wash and spin cycle from which only the best emerge.
Insemination, or the joining of the sperm and egg samples, can occur via intracytoplasmic sperm injection, when the sperm is introduced into the egg, per Penn Medicine. The newly formed embryos are monitored throughout the initial stages of development until they become blastocysts within three to five days.
Soon after egg collection, more hormones are given to the prospective parent in hopes of making the uterus more amenable to implantation, when the blastocyst or blastocysts are reintroduced through the vagina, according to Penn Medicine. As the number of embryos increases, so too does the chance of implantation. Two weeks after the procedure, its success can be determined with a pregnancy test.