Donation to embryo research UK

We are delighted that Valerie was able to join the amazing speakers at the Progress Educational Trust Conference 2024. Following on from a talk Embryo Genomes: What Is Meaningful Knowledge? and 'Storing Up Trouble: Clinical, Ethical and Regulatory Implications of Prolonged Embryo Storage' she presented 'Barriers to Benevolence: Navigating the Challenges of Donating Embryos to Research'. 

 

See the write full write up in Bionews.  

Dr Shaikly explained that although the ability to donate to research already exists in the UK, the opportunity to do so is rarely available to patients, with only one in five clinics offering the service. Couples or individuals with embryos in storage are likely to be contacted on an annual basis by a clinic, to confirm their instructions for ongoing storage or to offer alternatives. This contact is often linked to ongoing billing for storage, which is usually self-funded. Options can include continuing storage, allowing embryos to perish, donating embryos for use in training or research, or donating embryos to others for use in treatment. These annual decisions can be difficult for patients, not least because of financial considerations and because some patients find the idea of allowing embryos to perish overwhelming. 

 

Fertility patients interested in donating their embryos for research sometimes contact licensed research centres directly, explained Dr Shaikly. She pointed out, however, that fertility clinics may not be willing to facilitate transfer. The necessary process of consent is also complex, and this can be a barrier. 

 

Dr Shaikly explored how donating embryos for research could be made easier, and suggested that a starting point could be improving the information available on the website of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). She also explained that, ideally, a national research embryo bank would be established, increasing the number of embryos available for research work (see BioNews 1219, 1243 and 1268). Ad hoc arrangements for transferring embryos from clinics to research centres are logistically and financially difficult, but bulk movement of embryos for research to and from a central store would be more practical. 

 

Finally, Dr Shaikly argued that permissions for research collaboration are currently too restrictive. The HFEA could improve the situation by providing research registration alongside centre registration, and making research priorities a focus of inspection.