China Roadshow image

This spring, ORIGIO China completed their fourth Quality Roadshow which toured six cities, Chengdu, Mianyang, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Guangzhou and Foshan, and included eight IVF clinics.

Offered as a free service to 400 ART clinics across the country, the roadshow offered a review of participating clinics’ practices as part of a Quality Control audit.

Inspections included the checking of lab temperatures, gas and pH levels. It also involved an exploration of how each clinics’ samples were handled and the equipment used within the laboratory.

pzdpipets-standing-820-webORIGIO’s Director of Embryology Dr Steven Fleming gave lectures about quality control in the lab which all clinic staff members attended, during which embryologists asked questions and received hands-on training. There was also the opportunity to gain more knowledge about the RI Witness™ security and ART management system and a range of other products including the Integra 3™ micromanipulator and pipette brands from Humagen, RI, and TPC.

A biopsy workshop provided participants with core knowledge and introductory practical skills under the supervision of an experienced practitioner. A comprehensive overview of biopsy techniques for different developmental stages (cleavage stage and trophectoderm biopsy) and genetic analysis methods for each biopsy technique was included.

Participants learned to prepare biopsy dishes, performed assisted hatching using the Saturn 5 Active™ laser, performed biopsies and retrieved polar bodies and cells. Choices of pipettes, media and possible uses of the biopsied material were also discussed.

The hands-on session allowed participants to practice each type of biopsy technique using mouse embryos and blastocysts.

“Most of the IVF laboratories we visited were very well run, custom built, well-designed facilities that were well equipped,” said Dr Steve Fleming. “They were staffed by embryologists with a burning desire to learn and improve their clinical service.”

The program has been running for one year and, to date, has proved a great help to clinics. In 2016, after the lab roadshow took place, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College experienced a clinical pregnancy rate increase of 10%.

The changes they made to facilitate this improvement included clinical protocol adjustments and extending culture from Day 3 to Day 5. They also improved efficiencies during the vitrification process and communicated to patients the benefits of single embryo transfers – consequently their multiple pregnancy rate reduced. They use the ORIGIO BT-37 workstation, an Ultr-001 online filter and Humagen Pipets.

Future workshops are scheduled as follows:

12/5/17 in Shanghai – Biopsy workshop
17/9/17 in Shanghai – Vitrification workshop
15-19/11/17 in Nanjing City – ICSI hands-on Biopsy workshop

If you are interested in attending please contact [email protected].