An Application of the 3D Petri-dish: The Human Artificial Ovary
Collaborators
- Jeffrey Morgan, PhD, Brown University
- Sandra Carson, MD, Women and Infants Hospital
- Anubhav Tripathi, PhD, Brown University
Summary
While Women and Infants Hospital performs approximately 600 in vitro fertilization aspirations/year, there are a few reproductive options for women who face chemotherapy or radiation treatment. This team seeks to develop a new method for in vitro fertilization that will enable female cancer patients to preserve their viable oocytes, or immature eggs, prior to treatment. The preserved eggs will be matured in vitro via a bio-artificial ovary and the fertilization process can begin.
Through previous research, this team has developed a 3-D Petri dish that allocated the culture of cells. The 3-D Petri dish has a variety of other potential applications in areas such as tissue engineering, cancer research, development biology and drug discovery.
This grant will enable the team to work with a local company to manufacture this 3-D Petri dish technology at low cost. Volume productions will enable continued research to perfect the human artificial ovay. The broad potential of this technology provides attractive prospects for commercialization.
