Initial findings suggest that the embryo produces and secretes a number of products, proteins in particular, into its environment. The working hypothesis is that these molecules reflect the biochemical and genomic status as well as the developmental potential of the embryo. Furthermore, they might very likely act as signals to the maternal tissue in preparation for the implantation process. Our holistic approach of directly identifying secreted proteins and peptides from cultured embryos as potential biomarkers is novel. Similarly, we will analyze supernatants from embryos that have been diagnosed with chromosomal abberation for potential surrogate markers for the respective karyotype abnormalities.

Any protein molecule produced by the embryos is a priori a biomarker candidate. Once these candidates are identified, we will validate them for their relevance to the embryo quality by studying their correlation to the clinical outcome, the healthy pregnancy.