̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Robert Edwards

Cambridge study named as People’s Choice for Science magazine’s ‘Breakthrough of the Year 2016’

cjb250 — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 19:00:40 +0000

̽��ֱ��work, led by Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, was the focus of parallel publications earlier this year in the journals Nature Cell Biology and Nature.

Professor Zernicka-Goetz and colleagues developed a new technique that allows embryos to develop in vitro, in the absence of maternal tissue, beyond the implantation stage (when the embryo would normally implant into the womb). This will allow researchers to analyse for the first time key stages of human embryo development up to 13 days after fertilisation. ̽��ֱ��technique could open up new avenues of research aimed at helping improve the chances of success of IVF.

“It’s a wonderful honour to have been given such public recognition for our work,” says Professor Zernicka-Goetz, whose work was funded by Wellcome. “It’s a natural human instinct to be curious about where we come from, but until now, technical hurdles have meant there’s been a huge gap in our understanding of how embryos develop. We hope that our technique will crack open this ‘black box’ and allow us to learn more about our development.”

Dr Marta Shahbazi, one of the co-first authors of the Nature Cell Biology paper, also from Cambridge, adds: “In the same year where scientists have found evidence of gravitational waves, it’s amazing that the public has chosen our work as the most important scientific breakthrough. While our study will help satisfy our scientific curiosity, it is likely to help us better understand what happens in miscarriage and why the success rates for IVF are so low.”

̽��ֱ��work builds on research pioneered by Professor Sir Robert Edwards, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2010. Professor Edwards developed the technique known as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), demonstrating that it was possible to fertilise an egg and culture it in the laboratory for the first six days of development. His work led to the first ever 'test tube baby', Louise Brown.

̽��ֱ��award has been welcomed by Dr Jim Smith, Director of Science at Wellcome: “I’m really pleased to see Magda’s fantastic work recognised by Science, and we send our warmest congratulations to her and her team. In almost doubling the time we can culture human embryos in the lab, she has created completely new opportunities for developmental biologists to understand how we develop. It’s a great achievement, and Wellcome is proud to have supported her ground-breaking work.”

Science - Breakthrough of the Year 2016

Cambridge research that will enable scientists to grow and study embryos in the lab for almost two weeks has been named as the People’s Choice for Science magazine’s ‘Breakthrough of the Year 2016’

It’s a natural human instinct to be curious about where we come from, but until now, technical hurdles have meant there’s been a huge gap in our understanding of how embryos develop

Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz

Magda Human Embryo

Zernick-Goetz lab, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Imaging a human embryo in the absence of maternal tissues - day 10 (left) and day 11 (right)

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Professor Sir Robert Edwards (1925-2013)

th288 — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:23:20 +0000

“It is with deep sadness that the family announces that Professor Sir Robert Edwards, Nobel prizewinner, scientist and co-pioneer of IVF, passed away peacefully in his sleep on 10 April 2013 after a long illness. He will be greatly missed by family, friends and colleagues. Please respect the family’s privacy at this sad time.”

A Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, Prof Edwards was born on 27 September 1925. He worked for many years in the ̽��ֱ��'s Department of Physiology. He became famous for the development, with Dr Patrick Steptoe, of the technique of in vitro fertilization, which resulted in the birth of Louise Brown, and more than four million babies since that time.

His work has had an immense impact throughout the world. ̽��ֱ��developments for which Edwards and Steptoe were responsible attracted much publicity, some of it, not least from the Vatican, highly critical.

Formal recognition therefore came late, but when it did come, it was decisive, with the award of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2010 'for the development of in vitro fertilization'.

In 2011, Robert was knighted 'for services to human reproductive biology'.

Professor Martin Johnson, Emeritus Professor of Reproductive Science, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ’s College was, together with Sir Richard Gardner, Robert's first graduate student between 1966 and 1969. He said: “Bob Edwards was a remarkable man who changed the lives of so many people. He was not only a visionary in his science but also in his communication to the wider public about scientific matters in which he was a great pioneer.

“He will be greatly missed by his colleagues, students, his family and all the many people he has helped to have children.”

Mike Macnamee, Chief Executive of Bourn Hall, the IVF clinic that Steptoe and Edwards co-founded, said: “Bob Edwards is one of our greatest scientists. His inspirational work in the early 1960s led to a breakthrough that has enhanced the lives of millions of people worldwide. He is held in great affection by everyone who has worked with him and was treated by him.

"For me personally Bob was a great mentor, colleague and friend. It was a privilege to work with him and his passing is a great loss to us all."

Notice from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge on behalf of the family of Professor Sir Robert Edwards MA, Hon ScD, CBE, FRS

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Professor Robert Edwards awarded Nobel Prize

bjb42 — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Edwards, born in 1925, was educated at the ̽��ֱ�� of Bangor and the ̽��ֱ�� of Edinburgh. In 1963, he joined the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge as the Ford Foundation Research Fellow at the Department of Physiology, and a member of Churchill College.

Edwards began work on fertilisation in 1955, and began his partnership with Dr Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecologist surgeon, in 1968. Although the first successful human test-tube fertilisation took place by 1970, research did not result in a successful pregnancy for ten years. During this time, Edwards supervised students at Churchill College.

By the late 1970s, funding for Steptoe and Edwards' project was running out, and their work met with scepticism, resistance and set-backs. But in 1978, a breakthrough resulted in a healthy pregnancy and the birth of the first ever 'test tube baby', Louise Brown.

Edwards and Steptoe went on to found the first IVF clinic at Bourn Hall, Cambridge, in 1980. Before Dr Steptoe died in 1988, Edwards, now a Professor of Human Reproduction at Cambridge, was able to tell his seriously ill colleague that one thousand babies had been conceived at the clinic.

In 2001 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award for the development of in vitro fertilization. Now aged 85, Edwards is a Pensioner Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge. Over four million children have now been born as a result of IVF.

Professor Azim Surani, former graduate student of Professor Edwards and current Marshall-Walton Professor of Physiology and Reproduction at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said:

"I am delighted that Bob Edwards's work has been finally recognised with the much-deserved award of Nobel Prize in Medicine. I was one of his PhD students in early 1970's when Bob together with Patrick Steptoe was in the middle of his pioneering research on early human embryos, which eventually led to the birth of Louise Brown. Bob had to work very hard towards achieving his objective in the face of many obstacles, considerable opposition and lack of support from the establishment.

"Bob's work has been critical for many other important medical advances, including preimplantation genetic diagnosis for diseases, and for the derivation of the first human pluripotent stem cells, which hold great promise for advances in medicine in the future. For myself, Bob was a highly inspirational and generous supervisor, and I am delighted and proud to have been one of his PhD students."

Professor Bill Harris, Head of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said:

"We are absolutely delighted that the pioneering work on the basic cell biology of mammalian fertilization done by Bob Edwards when he was in our Department has been duly recognized by the Nobel Committee for the huge step forward in reproductive medicine that it has proved to be.

"This is a perfect example of how basic science can have enormous, beneficial impact on modern medicine. Louise Brown, born in 1978, and thousands of other happy, healthy and successful human beings all owe their very existence to the remarkable breakthrough achieved by Bob."

Dr Alan Findlay, Fellow of Churchill College and longstanding friend and colleague of Professor Bob Edwards, said:

"This is great news. I just wish it had come sooner. Bob braved tremendous difficulties in the early days of the research that led to IVF. He had to make weekly journeys from Cambridge to Oldham- in the pre-motorway era! - where Patrick Steptoe, one of the few obstetricians willing to collaborate with him, was using keyhole surgery to collect eggs from ovaries. Leaders of the medical and scientific establishments were highly sceptical. Bob has engaged vigorously and constructively in debates on the ethical implications of his work. ̽��ֱ��greatest reward for him has been the joy that his work has brought to millions."

Sir David Wallace, Master of Churchill College, said:

"I am thrilled for Bob, who has given us yet another wonderful reason to celebrate this year the 50th anniversary of the Founding of the College."

̽��ֱ��work of Bob Edwards is featured in the forthcoming exhibition 'Science and Technology at Churchill College Cambridge: the first fifty years' which opens at the College on 11 October with a lecture by Lord Winston. Use the link above right for further details.

Image not for duplication. Credit: Bourn Hall

Professor Robert Edwards, Pensioner Fellow at Churchill College and Emeritus Professor of Human Reproduction at the ̽��ֱ��, was today awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

I am delighted that Bob Edwards's work has been finally recognised with the much-deserved award of Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Professor Azim Surani

Bob Edwards

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