EMBRACE: Embryo Analysis of Culture Environment

A non-invasive test for prioritizing embryo transfer that avoids invasive embryo biopsy, potentially increasing accessibility for a wider patient population.

A non-invasive solution for patients leading to safer, more efficient IVF treatment

Avoids embryo biopsies, and therefore reduces costs

Increases accessibility for a wider population of patients.

What is EMBRACE test?

> EMBRACE is a non-invasive test for prioritizing embryo transfer that avoids invasive embryo biopsy, thereby potentially increasing accessibility for a wider patient population.

> EMBRACE scores embryos according to their probability of being healthy and viable based on chromosomal information.

> The recent identification of embryo cell-free DNA in spent blastocyst media opened a new era of possibilities for non-invasive embryo aneuploidy testing in assisted reproductive technologies.

> During in-vitro embryo development, embryo cell-free DNA is released into the culture medium, with higher concentrations as the number of cells increases at blastocyst stage.

> Spent blastocyst medium containing the embryo cell-free DNA can be analyzed by next generation sequencing (NGS), representing a non-invasive approach to estimate the chromosome copy number of the blastocyst without the need for trophectoderm biopsy.

What is the procedure?

Why use EMBRACE test?

> It avoids embryo biopsies and therefore reduces costs, making it accessible to a greater number of people.

> A non-invasive solution for patients, leading to safer, more efficient IVF treatment.

Who should use EMBRACE?

> Any patients who wish to increase their chances of pregnancy without using invasive biopsy procedures.

Test limitations and considerations:

> Currently, the concordance rate of this test with invasive biopsy procedures is 78.2%. Concordance means the chance that the non-invasive test results match with the results of embryo biopsy, though there is no guarantee that results from embryo biopsy are always correct. These data are from ongoing clinical trials currently in progress at Igenomix.

> The embryos never leave your clinic; the genetics laboratory only receives a sample of the culture medium in which the embryos have been grown. This liquid is considered waste and always disposed of once treatment has finished.

> The test is valid only when embryos have been grown to 6 or 7 days of age and are at the blastocyst stage.

> On rare occasions, genetic testing cannot be carried out because of insufficient DNA in the culture media or poor-quality DNA.

> In some cases, additional genetic assessment may be needed, which might include an embryo biopsy.

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