Master in Human Assisted Reproductive Technologies

This Subject covers the main 3 parameters that must guide the daily practice of the ART professional: science, ethics, and law. The practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM) requires knowledge of the scientific method and development of critical thought, as well as an understanding of the basic tenets of study design and statistics for medical research.

In addition, as technical breakthroughs occur at an ever-increasing pace, the rapidly advancing field of ART poses ethical dilemmas on a regular basis, and a deep knowledge of and scrupulous adherence to national and international laws and regulations is absolutely required.

The emotional burden of treatment is the main cause of treatment discontinuation and non-adherence even in countries where ART treatments are economically feasible and culturally accepted. Nevertheless, ART programs do not train professionals to understand the patient’s challenges and experiences with infertility, resulting in high treatment drop-out, and ultimately a lower proportion of patients that overcome their infertility.

This subject will provide you with a solid appreciation of the psychological aspects of the infertile experience, both from a male and female point of view, as well as the need to make patients the focus of the treatment process. This subject will train you to understand the role of the ART professional in solving this problem through increased communication with patients, colleagues, regulators, and the media. In an increasingly communicated world, this implies developing skills related to the use of novel media platforms to communicate with patients (social media/telemedicine).

This Subject will cover normal anatomy and physiology of the male and female reproductive organs at both the macro and microscopic levels along with the stages of the reproductive life cycle. Development, endocrinology, gametogenesis, menstrual cycle, fertilization, implantation, early embryonic development, and pregnancy will be covered.

You will acquire knowledge of the main pathologies that underlie fertility issues, learn how to clinically evaluate the infertile/sub-fertile individual in order to recognize tubal/uterine infertility, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, male and female reproductive pathologies, ovulation disorders, and implantation issues, among others. The developing field of oncofertility and how to preserve the reproductive potential of cancer patients will be explained and discussed.

You will become familiarized with the current toolbox of technologies and methods in ART. Both clinical and embryological approaches will be considered. This will provide the student with a holistic view of reproductive medicine and allow for an improved interaction between both areas of treatment, in the interest of patient satisfaction and clinical results.

Main topics are induction of ovulation, oocyte pickup, gamete donation, ICSI, in vitro embryo culture and evaluation, embryo transfer, luteal phase support, and cryobiology. Importantly, students will be introduced to cutting edge technologies such as time-lapse microscopy, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Basic concepts of genetics in relation to all aspects of human reproduction (preconceptional, prenatal and embryonic stage), with emphasis on inherited disease, chromosomal segregation and the genetics of male and female infertility will be reviewed.

This subject will cover classical and expanded preconceptional screening and analyse implications for couples wanting to conceive. Students will study techniques and approaches to embryo testing (PGT-A, PGT-M, PGT-ST) as well as concepts related to genetic counselling. The lack of an EBM perspective made PGT a particularly controversial issue in the ART field. Since genetics and preconceptional testing lend themselves particularly well to EBM assessment, case studies will be used to illustrate concepts.

Cutting edge genetic technologies will be presented and studied, including genetic manipulation and genome editing techniques, mitochondrial manipulation, uterine transplant, and stem cell-related approaches to infertility. 

Students will practice the basic procedures executed in the ART laboratory during a full week of intensive wet laboratory sessions, including oocyte manipulation, denudation, maturity evaluation, embryo culture in vitro and its evaluation, sperm thawing, and swim-up/gradient selection.

This subject provides a full week dedicated to training the students in basic clinical techniques such as ultrasound-guided oocyte pick-up and embryo transfer, by using state-of-the-art dummy based digital simulation systems.

During the professional internships students will choose a technique or method of their interest. They will be required to present a critical review of the existing literature regarding said clinical practice and produce a report following the criteria and guidelines of the EBM. 

Students will be able to undergo guided internships at Assisted Reproduction Research Centres or Clinics in the European Union (Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Sweden) or outside of the EU (USA and Brazil). These internships will be 4 months long and students will be able to choose only one centre, for the whole duration of the internship or 2, spending 2 months at each centre. Depending on the clinic of choice, students will be able to focus on basic reproductive research, clinical reproduction, or clinical embryology. For each practicum, the student will be under the supervision of a local tutor.