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Bedford Research Foundation is a non-profit Institute that conducts stem cell research for diseases and conditions that currently have no known cure. [1] The institute also created the Special Program of Assisted Reproduction (SPAR), a program that assists serodiscordant couples successfully achieve pregnancy. [2] Dr. Ann Kiessling, the founder of Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation, is the Laboratory Director. [1]
Bedford Research Foundation was founded to satisfy the need for a research and development clinical laboratory that could facilitate technology transfer from basic science discoveries to clinical test applications. [3] BRF was founded and incorporated in 1996 by Dr. Ann Kiessling and through the efforts of men and women whose lives were altered by blood products tainted with the AIDS virus (Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV) and Hepatitis C virus. Faced with unprecedented disease obstacles, the men and women insisted that biomedical technology be developed to fight their infections, and allow them to conceive children of their own. Research to ensure the safety of conception by assisted reproductive technologies in general was not funded by the National Institutes of Health because of the U.S. Congress decisions in 1996 and 1998 that research on fertilized human eggs "...is meritorious and should be done for society..., but will not be funded by taxpayer dollars." [3] [4]
The Foundation conducts research within its own laboratories (Stem Cell, Prostate, Infectious disease) as well as in collaboration with other laboratories and raises money to award research grants to qualified investigators seeking to improve the safety and success of assisted reproduction to mothers and babies. Much of the research supported by the Foundation cannot be funded by federal grants-in-aid because of the U.S. moratorium on funding research on human eggs activated either artificially or by sperm. [4]
For this reason, the men and women themselves raised the money to fund the Special Program of Assisted Reproduction (SPAR). Within two years, technology was developed to protect against virus transmission at conception. As a result, Baby Ryan was born in 1999 to a healthy Mom and a Dad with hemophilia who was infected with Hepatitis C and HIV by tainted blood factors. [1] [5]
In conjunction with stem cell research, Foundation scientists also apply patented processes to help diagnose male reproductive tract disorders. Research done at the Foundation has led to the development of additional tests that may provide valuable information about overall men's health. A current focus is detection of bacteria in semen by molecular biology methods instead of standard laboratory culture. Studies to date reveal that semen contains bacteria not previously identified. Such studies hold the promise of developing new tests for the health of semen producing organs such as the prostate, which is a site of significant disease in men, including infection (prostatitis) and cancer. [3]
On April 10, 2020 it was reported that Bedford Research Foundation had expanded its operations to include SARS2 testing, making it one of 66 sites in the United States with a Food and Drug Administration- approved test for COVID-19. The lab began testing samples from Sturdy Hospital in Attleboro and Emerson in Concord. [6] On April 21, 2020, Bedford Research Foundation piloted a program to expand their SARS2 (Coronavirus) testing to the public. The test was well-received and successful. The foundation is currently making plans to expand the program. [7]
A spermatozoon is a motile sperm cell, or moving form of the haploid cell that is the male gamete. A spermatozoon joins an ovum to form a zygote.
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro. The process involves monitoring and stimulating a female's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova from their ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a culture medium in a laboratory. After the fertilised egg (zygote) undergoes embryo culture for 2–6 days, it is transferred by catheter into the uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection is an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure in which a single sperm cell is injected directly into the cytoplasm of an egg. This technique is used in order to prepare the gametes for the obtention of embryos that may be transferred to a maternal uterus. With this method, the acrosome reaction is skipped.
Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species. It is the normal state of a human child or other young offspring, because they have not undergone puberty, which is the body's start of reproductive capacity.
Andrology is a name for the medical specialty that deals with male health, particularly relating to the problems of the male reproductive system and urological problems that are unique to men. It is the counterpart to gynaecology, which deals with medical issues which are specific to female health, especially reproductive and urologic health.
A sperm bank, semen bank, or cryobank is a facility or enterprise which purchases, stores and sells human semen. The semen is produced and sold by men who are known as sperm donors. The sperm is purchased by or for other persons for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy or pregnancies other than by a sexual partner. Sperm sold by a sperm donor is known as donor sperm.
Sperm washing is the process in which individual sperms are separated from the semen. Washed sperm is used in artificial insemination using the intrauterine insemination (IUI) technique and in in vitro fertilization (IVF). It may also be used to decrease the risk of HIV transmission by an HIV-positive male, in which case the washed sperm is injected into a female using an artificial insemination technique.
Hypospermia is a condition in which a man has an unusually low ejaculate volume, less than 1.5 mL. It is the opposite of hyperspermia, which is a semen volume of more than 5.5 mL. It should not be confused with oligospermia, which means low sperm count. Normal ejaculate when a man is not drained from prior sex and is suitably aroused is around 1.5–6 mL, although this varies greatly with mood, physical condition, and sexual activity. Of this, around 1% by volume is sperm cells. The U.S.-based National Institutes of Health defines hypospermia as a semen volume lower than 2 mL on at least two semen analyses.
Male infertility refers to a sexually mature male's inability to impregnate a fertile female. In humans it accounts for 40–50% of infertility. It affects approximately 7% of all men. Male infertility is commonly due to deficiencies in the semen, and semen quality is used as a surrogate measure of male fecundity. More recently, advance sperm analyses that examine intracellular sperm components are being developed.
Reproductive medicine is a branch of medicine concerning the male and female reproductive systems. It encompasses a variety of reproductive conditions, their prevention and assessment, as well as their subsequent treatment and prognosis.
Fertility clinics are medical clinics that assist couples, and sometimes individuals, who want to become parents but for medical reasons have been unable to achieve this goal via the natural course. Clinics apply a number of diagnosis tests and sometimes very advanced medical treatments to achieve conceptions and pregnancies.
A semen analysis, also called seminogram or spermiogram, evaluates certain characteristics of a male's semen and the sperm contained therein. It is done to help evaluate male fertility, whether for those seeking pregnancy or verifying the success of vasectomy. Depending on the measurement method, just a few characteristics may be evaluated or many characteristics may be evaluated. Collection techniques and precise measurement method may influence results.
Ann A. Kiessling is an American reproductive biologist and a researcher in human parthenogenic stem cell research at The Bedford Research Foundation. She was an associate professor in teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School from 1985 until 2012.
The Special Program of Assisted Reproduction (SPAR) is a program offered to HIV discordant couples (serodiscordant) at the Bedford Research Foundation's clinical laboratory. The program takes advantage of ART procedures to assist couples achieve a pregnancy who would otherwise risk transmitting the father's HIV infection to the mother and the child through intercourse.
Semen quality is a measure of male fertility, a measure of the ability of sperm in semen to accomplish fertilization. Semen quality involves both sperm quantity and quality
Sperm sorting is a means of choosing what type of sperm cell is to fertilize the egg cell. Several conventional techniques of centrifugation or swim-up. Newly applied methods such as flow cytometry expand the possibilities of sperm sorting and new techniques of sperm sorting are being developed.
Dr. Paul J Turek is an American physician and surgeon, men's reproductive health specialist, and businessman. Turek is a recent recipient of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for research designed to help infertile men become fathers using stem cells.
In sperm banks, screening of potential sperm donors typically includes screening for genetic diseases, chromosomal abnormalities and sexually transmitted infections (STDs) that may be transmitted through the donor's sperm. The screening process generally also includes a quarantine period, during which samples are frozen and stored for at least six months after which the donor will be re-tested for STIs. This is to ensure no new infections have been acquired or have developed during since the donation. If the result is negative, the sperm samples can be released from quarantine and used in treatments.
Simon Fishel is an English physiologist, biochemist and pioneering in vitro fertilisation (IVF) specialist.
Renee Reijo Pera is a stem cell biologist and the President of the McLaughlin Research Institute in Great Falls, MT. She previously served as Vice President of Research and Economic Development, for more than 8 years at the California Polytechnic State University and at Montana State University. Reijo Pera's research focuses on human development and disease, in particular, on the development and differentiation of somatic and germ cell lineages and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and also infertility in men and women.