Our history
Throughout our 30+ year history of baby making magic, we’ve been at the forefront of fertility techniques and technology. We’re innovators and proud of it. We’ve provided our patients with world class service and cutting-edge technology which is the envy of the entire fertility science field. Our research and technologies (developed in-house) virtually doubled IVF success rates in the mid-nineties and we’re continuing to improve outcomes today.
Our history as fertility pioneers
Routine Day 5 embryo transfers
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 3 and Day 5 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’ve been doing it this way for years and it’s one of the key reasons behind our world leading success rates. But surprisingly, some other Australian clinics still routinely transfer embryos earlier than Day 5. Make sure this question is on your comparison list.
Single embryo transfer
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 (you’ll still see it mentioned on US forums and in Facebook groups), our technology allows us to achieve high success rates while transferring a single, carefully selected embryo. Single embryo transfer also means a safer pregnancy for mum and bub.
Culture medium
Culture medium is the vital solution that nurtures and support eggs, sperm and embryos outside the body. Genea has been developing and using our 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 entire five or six days they spend in our labs.
Incubators
Genea’s embryologists are experts in what embryos need to grow and survive. So before we came up with 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 MINC incubators are still used across Australian clinics and the world today. We’ve moved on and now only culture patients’ embryos in the latest time-lapse incubator, Geri™.
Vitrification
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 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’s used by top clinics around the world.
More on our fertility tech
PGD and PGS
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*.
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**.