A concert for embryos to boost IVF success rate

LONDON: A Spanish singer-songwriter has performed live for a very special audience - 380 embryos in an IVF clinic - in a first of its kind effort to boost fertilization rates.

Singer Antonio Orozco, famous throughout Spain and Latin America, played a very intimate gig last week for 380 embryos currently gestating in the Institut Marques in Barcelona. The singer strummed his guitar in front of dozens of incubators in support of research the centre is currently undertaking on the positive effects of music on embryonic and foetal development.

"It was a unique experience," said Orozco after serenading the embryos. The research is based on the findings of a study presented by the institute two years ago at the annual meeting of the European Society for Assisted Reproduction, 'The Local' reported.

The study showed that musical vibrations increased the rate of IVF (in vitro fertilisation) by 5% and improved the development of the embryo. "That is why we have developed an innovative method to incorporate music in all our embryo incubators," the Institut Marques said.
"With this system, we are moving forward in our efforts to reproduce in a laboratory the natural conditions embryos enjoy in utero in order to improve fertilisation rates," said Marisa Lopez-Teijon, head of Assisted Reproduction.