Analysis of human embryonic ploidy using morphology, morphokinetics and patient data through artificial intelligence techniques.

• Grant number: 24/03739-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: José Celso Rocha
• Grantee: Vinícius Casado Moraes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Infertility is currently considered a public health issue, affecting around 10-15% of couples worldwide, largely due to quality of life. The use of assisted reproduction techniques such as In Vitro Fertilization and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection has been in great demand by couples who wish to have children using the genetic material of both or one of the individuals. This has led to a significant increase in the demand for clinics specializing in assisted reproduction, creating an even greater demand for embryologists to select the embryo with the best prospects of conceiving a healthy birth. The identification of embryonic aneuploidies is one of the criteria evaluated in cases where the patient faces multiple failures in the implantation of quality embryos, resulting in gestational loss. Currently, there are several methods aimed at detecting a chromosomal syndrome, such as Preimplantation Genetic Testing -Aneuploidy (PGT-A). However, conventional approaches to identifying the presence of aneuploidies in cells, such as PGT-A, often involve risks to the development of the embryo due to their invasive nature. Therefore, the purpose of this research project is to develop a new non-invasive analysis approach, using computer software that makes use of artificial intelligence techniques, to identify the ploidy of human embryos based on feature maps, morphological variables, morphokinetic variables and patient data.