Award-Winning Research From Indianapolis Provides Peace of Mind and Enhances Patient Care
Jennifer Matucha with Conor Beardsley and Paul Kappelman at PCRS At Ovation®, our purpose is to bring the joy of parenthood through innovative science. To make this happen, our teams work hard in the lab to help patients while also conducting research to advance the field.
Recently, Jennifer Matucha, an embryologist at Ovation Fertility Indianapolis presented a poster at PCRS and won an award for her innovative research that examined the effect of insemination methods on the occurrence of embryo mosaicism.
The poster was aptly named The Effect of Insemination Methods on Embryo Mosaicism Anomalies. It was based on Jennifer’s research for her master’s degree program at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS). Her research was supported by Ovation and looked at mosaic embryos in patient cycles using IVF with PGT-A.
She divided the mosaic embryos into different categories, including high and low mosaicism as well as whole and segmental mosaicism. From there, she considered which embryos came from cycles that used traditional fertilization in the lab and which ones came from IVF cycles using ICSI. The goal was to see whether different types of fertilization methods resulted in higher or lower levels of embryo mosaicism.
“Patients have been through so much by the time they seek fertility treatment, and it can be quite stressful for them. As more patients have started to learn about the concept of mosaicism, it has led to more questions for them,” Jennifer explains. “I wanted to research this topic to answer some of these questions for patients and provide them with peace of mind.”
Giving patients peace of mind is exactly what Jennifer’s research did. The results showed no difference in levels of mosaicism between the two types of fertilization. “The results will hopefully comfort patients who are worried that one type of fertilization could affect the type and level of mosaicism,” Jennifer says.
Jennifer’s insightful research is not just a comfort for patients, but it’s also impressive. It was one of about 90 posters accepted for presentation at the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society (PCRS) 2022 Annual Meeting. Not only that, but her poster was also one of three posters to win the Allied Health Professionals award.
According to Jennifer, “The experience was wonderful. It wasn’t my first time attending the conference, but it was my first time presenting there. It’s a more intimate conference than ASRM, so it allows you to meet more people and really discuss your research.”
Sharing research is close to Jennifer’s heart because it brings her back to Ovation’s purpose. “Our ultimate goal is to improve the outcomes of patient cycles, so the more research and information we have, the better we can treat patients to help them experience the joy of parenthood,” Jennifer explains.