With the support of the European Regional Development Fund, the University of Pécs implemented a project, the aim of which is the application of chip technology to increase the success of artificial insemination. The closing video conference of the 48-month research program with an EU support of nearly 2 billion HUF was held on 3 June.
The results of the project have been published in 39 scientific publications in national and international journals, and 4 articles are currently being published or accepted. The project can be said to be extremely successful in terms of the innovative results created as well. A total of 5 intellectual works have been identified, the novelty of which is demonstrated by patents granted in 18 countries from Germany through Sweden to the United Kingdom, and a further 6 pending patent processes are expected to be successfully concluded in Australia, among others.
The project was implemented at the University of Pécs under the professional leadership of Professor Gábor L. Kovács, academic. The tender, which started on 1 October 2016 with a 100 percent aid intensity, is currently among the 5 most important industrial projects of the university.
The professional activity was carried out by researchers from nine departments: the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the Szentágothai Research Center, the Department of Laboratory Medicine, the Department of Medical Biology, the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Chemistry, the Department of Immunology and Biotechnology, the Department of Pharmaceutical Biology and the colleagues of the Institute of Physics.
The expected outcome of the project was that the research of the University of Pécs provides results that can be used in practice and have economic implications, and in its concept, it was aimed at applied research. The project also aimed to successfully coordinate the areas of university research, clinical practice, and the market demands of the corporate sector. In the professional, research aspect, the final expectation was to significantly improve the efficiency achieved so far with artificial insemination.
The research carried out during the tender was supplemented by the professionals with the microscopic examination of the viability of artificially inseminated embryos with new approaches, non-invasive biochemical methods. This means that human embryos do not become the subjects of direct testing methods because only the culture fluid surrounding the embryo was used in research and diagnostic procedures in the first days of the embryo’s development. This culture fluid would be destroyed during the normal clinical routine after the implantation of the embryo. The professionals use molecular biological, genetic and protein diagnostic tools to perform point-of-care rapid tests to identify adherent embryos, which complement the existing methods.
The news - formulated by the staff of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology referring to Minister László Palkovics - gives serious hopes for the direct continuation of the results presented in the tender, according to which the government will financially support the University of Pécs “Human Reproduction National Laboratory” program in the coming years.
Source:
PTE