Paolo Rinaudo, MD, PhD
WHAT WE DO
Investigating the long term effects of in vitro fertilization
The focus of our research is to understand how in vitro fertilization and in vitro culture during the pre-implantation period affect fetal and adult development. This has particular relevance in light of the widespread use of artificial reproductive techniques (ART). In fact, fetal adaptations in utero to adverse conditions can lead to specific diseases in the adult, including diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. This phenomenon, termed the developmental origin of adult health and disease or the Barker hypothesis, has been extrapolated back to preimplantation development.
Our laboratory is creating a mouse model of IVF for better analyzing long term outcome. One avenue of research analyzes glucose tolerance, fat content and growth in adult animals generated in vitro or in vivo. The goal of this study is to understand if animals generated in vitro have a different phenotype that could lead to disease in later life.
A second avenue of research analyzes if placentation is different in animal generated in vivo or in vitro Finally, we evaluate how different culture conditions determine gene expression changes and modify DNA methylation pattern or histone code in preimplantation embryos or adult animals generated in vivo or in vitro.
A NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE HERE from Dr. Paolo Rinaudo:
A Practical Guide to Fertility and IVF
The PDF version of this book is free of charge. Please feel free to download it!
For friends and family, an eBook version is available for purchase with several of the major online publishers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble).
Donations are accepted! The donation is tax deductible and 100% of the donation (well, 95%: UCSF charges a 5% tax) will go to the Rinaudo laboratory. The money you will donate will allow us to continue to do experiments in a mouse model, with the goal to improve health of IVF children!
