Artificial Intelligence for In Vitro Fertilization
Melissa Teran and Kevin Loewke, Alife Health
Friday, July 30, 2021
12–1 p.m. Presentation by Melissa Teran and Kevin Loewke
1–1:30 p.m. Questions & Dialogue
Zoom Conference Link: go.illinois.edu/innovationgrandrounds
Abstract: Infertility affects up to 9% of men and 11% of women of reproductive age in the United States. The treatments for infertility range from medication to assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF. Since the introduction of IVF over 40 years ago, success rates have steadily increased due to advancements in embryo culture, cryopreservation, and genetic testing. Despite this, the chances of achieving a live birth are still relatively low at approximately 35% per treatment cycle, which varies considerably based on age and other factors. Similar to other areas in medicine, we believe that artificial intelligence (AI) will bring about a digital transformation in IVF and deliver significant value to patients and practitioners. AI has the potential to optimize the most critical steps of IVF, including ovarian stimulation, sperm selection, embryo assessment, and more. In this seminar we will present our latest research on two projects where we apply AI to the field of IVF: (1) using machine learning to optimize starting gonadotropin dose and day of trigger during ovarian stimulation, and (2) using deep learning to rank embryos according to their likelihood of reaching clinical pregnancy.
Biographies:
Melissa Teran is the Head of Product at Alife Health. Prior to Alife, she spent nearly a decade in surgical robotic startup companies designing products for a wide range of clinical applications, from total knee replacements in orthopedics to kidney stone management in urology. At these companies, she worked as a technical manager bringing engineering, product management, and user experience (UX) design together to meet the needs of the physician. Melissa received her undergraduate engineering degree from the University of Michigan and her Masters’ degree in Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Kevin Loewke is Head of Data Science at Alife Health, a startup developing AI for the field of reproductive health. His interests and expertise lie at the intersection of AI and life sciences applications. Prior to Alife Health he co-founded Dana Solutions, which developed AI software for phenotypic drug testing (acquired by Curi Bio), and Auxogyn, which developed an AI-based medical device for in vitro fertilization (now Progyny, NASDAQ:PGNY). He received his PhD from Stanford with a focus on biomedical image analysis, and his post-doctoral training at the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.