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Incredibly researchers at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have found a possible solution to infertility in boys post cancer treatment. Using monkeys, they found that harvesting the testes of pre-pubescent male monkeys before making them infertile, cryogenically freezing the testes, thawing and grafting a small piece of the testes under the skin of the monkey leading to testosterone production: “during the 8- to 12-month observation period, grafts grew and produced testosterone. Complete spermatogenesis was confirmed in all grafts at the time of recovery. Graft-derived sperm were competent to fertilize rhesus oocytes, leading to preimplantation embryo development, pregnancy, and the birth of a healthy female baby.” There were issues however, most significantly being that although fertilisation of 138 eggs with sperm occurred, only 11 embryos developed enough to be viable options and of those, only one developed all the way to birth – Baby Grady. Although …

Two four year old siblings in Brisbane Australia have become only the second case of being semi-identical twins. The sister and brother share all their mother's DNA but only a section of their father's as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. Genetic testing was used to first identify that the two were sesquizygotic. According to Professor Nicholas Fisk, who looked after the mother and semi-idenitcal twins at Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital said:- “It is likely the mother’s egg was fertilised simultaneously by two of the father’s sperm before dividing,” he said. “The mother’s ultrasound at six weeks showed a single placenta and positioning of amniotic sacs that indicated she was expecting identical twins. “However, an ultrasound at 14 weeks showed the twins were male and female, which is not possible for identical twins.” Read more on The Queensland University of Technology Website  

On July 25th 1978, Louise Joy Brown was born in Oldham by a Cambridge doctor, one Robert Edwards. Born a healthy 5 pounds 12 ounces, her proud father, John Brown stated, 'there is no difference between her and any other little girl. We just helped nature a bit, that’s all' (people.com). (Keystone / Getty Images) First IVF Birth Facts Name - Louise Joy Brown (now Mullinder) Date of Birth - 25th July 1978 Weight - 5 pounds 12 ounces Father - John Brown Location - Oldham & General District Hospital, United Kingdom Louise was the only birth from the 280 women involved in the experiment Born via caesarian section Doctors - Patrick Steptoe & Robert Edwards Conceived via IVF Over 8 million births via IVF to date Happy birthday Louise