Genea was the first clinic in Australia to introduce the gold standard of routine Day 5 (blastocyst) embryo transfers. Growing the embryos in the lab a little longer before transferring allows us to determine which embryos have the highest development potential and increases success rates. The time between Day Three and Day Five in an embryo’s life is critical because it is when an embryo switches genetic control from the maternal genome to the embryo’s own genome. This culture process is more difficult than it sounds and simply cannot be done successfully without highly experienced embryologists and a leading incubation system as part of the lab process. We have given our patients world leading success rates with this advancement for years, some other Australian clinics still routinely transfer embryos earlier than Day Five.
We were also the first clinic in Australia to introduce routine single embryo transfer. While many clinics worldwide transfer more than one embryo to try to improve their chances of success, our technology allows us to achieve high success rates while transferring a single, carefully selected embryo. Having a patient-focused team of clinicians and scientists allowed us to achieve this faster than other clinics in Australia. And patients have benefited greatly through improved pregnancy safety as a result of this process.
Culture medium are the vital solutions that nurture and support eggs, sperm and embryos outside the body. Genea has been developing and using its own culture medium for more than two decades. Exclusive to Genea in Australia and used by more than 600 clinics around the world, our experience in culture medium development is world leading. More recently, we have developed and released a
continuous culture medium which means that precious embryos can develop undisturbed in the same liquid for the five or six days they spend in our labs.
Genea’s embryologists are experts in what embryos need to grow and survive. So before our current incubator,
Geri™, back in the 1990s we developed a mini incubator that simulated the natural environment of human fallopian tubes by using low oxygen levels and introducing just the right amount of carbon dioxide to help embryos grow. The mini incubators known as MINCs also maintained the optimal temperature to reduce stress on the embryo. These incubators continue to be used across other Australian clinics and the world today. We’ve moved on and now only culture patients’ embryos in the latest time-lapse incubator, Geri™.
Genea was the first clinic in Australia to develop and routinely replace the old slow freezing method for embryos and eggs with the more efficient and successful vitrification process. The latest technology, which is similar to snap freezing, has dramatically increased survival rates for thawed embryos. We’ve been using it routinely for more than ten years.
More recently, we have proudly developed and introduced
Gavi™ into our labs. Exclusive to our clinics in Australia, Genea’s automated vitrification instrument is the first in the world to automate and standardise key stages of the vitrification process. We ship Gavi
™ internationally and it is used by top clinics around the world.
Genea pioneered
pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and our expertise and techniques are among the best in the world. Many clinics have followed our lead and modelled their approach to embryo biopsy on ours. In 2015, Genea conducted 47% of all pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT, including both PGD and pre-implantation genetic screening also known as PGS) embryo transfers across Australia and New Zealand, which resulted in 56% of all the PGT live births in the region
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The latest next generation whole-genome sequencing has seen further improvements to the service. Not only does this assist patients with known genetic conditions, our PGS option is available for patients who want to screen all 23 pairs of chromosomes – often after
recurrent miscarriage or recurrent IVF failure. Through the use of PGS we are seeing double the live birth rate per embryo transfer and half the miscarriage rate in women over 38 years
**.