The Assisted Conception Unit has the largest and most successful preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) unit in the UK and is internationally known for its development of preimplantation genetic haplotyping (PGH).

• In PGH, whole genome amplification (WGA) and multiple displacement amplification (MDA) are used to simplify the process of PGD and increase the accuracy in diagnosis of mongenic and sex linked genetic disorders.
• Key participation in the European PGD Consortium, and lead responsible for long term follow up of babies born following PGD.
• Innovation in improving safety and efficiency of the PGD programme that has been a finalist for the BMJ Quality Improvement Award (2014).
• PGH is moving to a new SNP Erase and ultimately to Next Generation Sequencing (NGS).

Our PGD unit has produced more healthy babies using this treatment than all other UK centres combined. The unit treats more than 450 patients a year and is the only centre for PGD in the UK with a complete in-house service for PGD, housing our genetics and embryo creation facilities under one roof.

Future Research Strategy

Infertility is a common problem and there is consistent/increasing patient demand. A plethora of yet unanswered important research questions remain in Assisted Reproduction Technology. There are an increasing number of commonly used non evidence-based practices/interventions that require investigation in a research setting.

The Group

• Dr Yacoub Khalaf
• Professor Peter Braude
• Mr Tarek El Toukhy
• Dr Alison Lashwood
• Dr Caroline Ogilvie
• Dr Pamela Renwick