Fertility preservation is offered to patients undergoing fertility-threatening treatments, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy for cancer. In this context, oocytes and/or ovarian tissue are frozen for future use. In this research project, it will be determined in both mice and humans whether it is possible to develop functional and quantitative oocytes from ovarian tissue in vitro, starting from immature follicles. In addition, immature oocytes collected during the process of cryopreservation of ovarian tissue are analyzed in vitro after maturation for their competence to serve as functional gametes.

We perform a number of quality tests on the in vitro matured oocytes, including calcium imaging, spindle staining, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) followed by embryo development and chromosomal analysis of the subsequent embryos. Furthermore, we are investigating the use of nuclear transfer technology to overcome the poor embryonic development in this group of oocytes. For this purpose, donor eggs are used as cytoplasmic recipients of the genetic material of in vitro matured oocytes.