With the OL-related theme ‘Faster, higher and stronger – together’ this year’s Medicon Valley Alliance Summit gathered over 200 people from the Danish, Swedish and international life science community. In one of the four sessions, ReproUnion was invited to showcase how RUBIC is collecting and analyzing biological data from couples, to pave the way for more personalized, effective fertility treatments – and ultimately, solutions for men and women struggling with infertility.
“A heartfelt thank you to Aleksander and Henriette for delivering such impactful talks, representing both the female and male infertility challenges. In MVA we are so proud to be supporting this team of world-class fertility experts. Thank you for enlightening our members of continuous brilliant and important research and efforts!”, commented Anette Steenberg, CEO of MVA on LinkedIn.
Henriette Svarre Nielsen and Aleksander Giwercman presented how research using the cross-border biobank can bring us closer to understand the reasons for infertility, and they underlined the importance of the couple-centric approach, which makes RUBIC a true pioneer in this field. They further presented topial research on the complex role of the microbiome in reproductive disorders and the links between DNA damage in sperm and the increased risks of preeclampsia and premature birth in IVF pregnancies.
“Infertility is not just one condition – it’s a complex web of diseases and despite advances in IVF and ICSI, treatments are still far from personalized, and the cost is rising rapidly”, underlined Aleksander in his talk. And in the light of evidence showing the high proportion of men with reproductive disorders, he also raised the point of inequality in care and prevention, with no real screening process for men, since they don’t have a similar option to women seeing the gynecologist.
In the concluding panel talk moderator Lisa Kirsebom asked what the success factors will be going forward. While the momentum is building for RUBIC, Aleksander and Henriette agreed that the key to success lies in continuously growing the RUBIC dataset. Researchers are increasingly successful in attracting funding to use the RUBIC biobank material, but the challenge remains in more funding for the cross-border collection of samples, which is crucial to keeping the dataset rich and relevant. They further agreed that solving the infertility puzzle isn’t only about funding, but also about building a collaborative ecosystem in MediconValley – one that brings together researchers, healthcare professionals, and innovation-focused partners to close the knowledge gap in women’s health and develop new reproductive health solutions.
