Lumen Winter 2016 - Flipbook - Page 16
story by Ian Williams
World-first egg research leads
to new fertility treatment
O
bserving the creation of life for
the first time proved a career
defining moment for medical
researcher Dr Hannah Brown.
Hannah was in the third year of her
Bachelor of Science studies at the
University of Adelaide with little idea
of what her postgraduate future
might look like.
Then she did a small-group learning
research project on ovulation.
“I was just so excited at what I was
seeing for the first time – watching that
spark of life, a process that I never
imagined I would see,” said Hannah.
“It was because I’d been exposed
to this research project through smallgroup learning that I suddenly knew
what I wanted to do. Straight after that
I did my Honours in Obstetrics and
Gynaecology and loved it.”
Today Hannah, 33, is an awardwinning scientist at the University’s
internationally acclaimed Robinson
Research Institute (RRI) where she’s a
postdoctoral researcher pioneering new
advances in fertility treatment.
Her work is attracting international
recognition. Earlier this year she was
invited to attend the Global Young
Scientists Summit in Singapore –
GYSS@one-north – where she mixed
with 300 of the world’s leading scientific
minds, including Nobel Laureates and
Turing Award winners.
She also met Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull at the annual Science meets
Parliament event in Canberra in March
for a two-day program of professional
development and networking.
Hannah’s research into the importance
of haemoglobin in oocytes, a woman’s
eggs, earned her the SA Young
Investigator of the Year Award last year.
She was overseas when her mentor,
RRI’s Associate Professor Jeremy
Thompson made the initial discovery
that oocytes contain haemoglobin. He
was fascinated about the role it played
and invited Hannah back to Adelaide to
look into the significance of the finding.
14 Lumen | Winter 2016
“I’d spent four years at universities
in France and the US doing post doc
research which was critical for my
development as it exposed me to different
ways of doing science,” said Hannah.
“But I was ready to return home and
jumped at the opportunity because it
was a great fit with my previous research
in ovarian biology and I realised there
was much more to discover.”
The role of haemoglobin in
transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide
in red blood cells had been extensively
researched but very little was known
about its importance in reproduction.
Scientists at RRI believe its key
function is to deliver oxygen to the
oocyte and have discovered the protein
is critical for egg quality. Haemoglobin
levels increase dramatically leading up
to ovulation and if this doesn’t happen it
can impact fertilisation.
In an important breakthrough in
laboratory tests, Hannah successfully
added haemoglobin to mouse oocytes
and succeeded in mending broken eggs.
Estimates indicate that about one in
six couples will experience some form
of clinical infertility so this world-first
discovery could lead to treatments
benefiting thousands of couples
struggling to start a family.
“The observation was very exciting,”
said Hannah. “We made a small but
significant improvement to the oocytes
and resulting embryos.”
Treating immature eggs is cuttingedge technology known as in vitro
maturation (IVM) and differs from
conventional in vitro fertilisation (IVF)
when mature eggs are collected.
“IVM technology is exciting for IVF
clinics because we can finish growing
an egg in the laboratory which isn’t quite
ready for fertilisation,” said Hannah.
“IVM may provide another option for
women and also girls who are impacted
by childhood cancer for example.
“It means we can remove their
oocytes and freeze them before they
begin cancer treatments. I believe
over the next five years there will be
significant technological improvements
and we’ll be able to see what’s
happening inside the fallopian tubes.
“We are incredibly lucky to be part of
the Australian Research Council-funded
Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale
Biophotonics, which is allowing us to
create new windows into the body, to
see these things happen in real time.”
Hannah won an SA Young Tall
Poppy science award two years ago
for her other main research focus –
understanding the origins of diabetes
and how embryos respond to high levels
of glucose during the earliest stages
of pregnancy.
She’s shown that the embryo is able
to sense high glucose exposure while
in the fallopian tube and uterus and can
alter its behaviour – a metabolic profile
that becomes permanently imprinted.
“We know that there are lots of
changes occurring because of diabetes
during pregnancy and that this is a very
hostile environment for the egg and
embryo to grow in.
“There’s something happening in
those first few days of life because a
diabetic mother is far more likely to have
a child with diabetes. There are about
30,000 Australian babies born with type
2 diabetes every year so it’s all about
breaking that cycle.”
Hannah is trying to improve education
around how women can improve lifestyle
factors to keep their eggs in the best
shape – behaviours that should start well
before they think about starting a family.
Studies have shown that smoking is
terrible for sperm and eggs, drinking
alcohol is damaging and obese women are
more likely to have overweight children.
“Fertility is also ageist. Women are
born with all the eggs they will ever have
and once they reach 37 egg quality is
really on a rapid decline,” said Hannah.
Right: Dr Hannah Brown
Inset: Hannah in the lab
