ReproUnion: The European reproduction project tasked with tackling infertility

Euronews Correspondent Aurora Velez lifts the veil on an EU-funded collaboration, treating and preventing infertility and related diseases.

Transcript

00:00In Scandinavia, between 15 and 25 percent of couples have difficulty conceiving a child.

00:09This was the case for Kasper and Drew.

00:12After months of trying, they agreed to take part in Repro Union, a Danish and Swedish

00:16project combining research, medicine and innovation to better prevent and treat infertility.

00:23And then Esther came along.

00:24We found out that, well, I'm 38, but my egg is a little older than they have, and Kasper's

00:34sperm is good for some months, really bad for some other months.

00:39And we found out through some of the trials that were taken.

00:47In this hospital near Copenhagen, some 7,000 children are born every year, or approximately

00:5312 percent of births in Denmark, a figure that is falling for several reasons.

00:58One of them is infertility.

00:59The World Health Organization recognizes infertility as a disease that affects the male and female

01:04reproductive systems, and Repro Union is analyzing its causes and repercussions.

01:10Infertility is a disease, and that's also recognized.

01:13What we know is that approximately one-third has a female cause, one-third has a male cause,

01:20and one-third is still unknown.

01:22We know that having infertility as a male poses a risk of later cardiovascular disease,

01:28and we also have some indication in the females for the same, and that's also one of the things

01:33we want to go deeper into understanding.

01:36And it's here at the Biomedical Center in Lund, Sweden, where we dig deeper using samples

01:41and data analysis.

01:43Repro Union is conducting an extensive study on infertility.

01:47Its aims are prevention, detection and treatment.

01:50More than two million samples are stored here at minus 80 degrees Celsius.

01:56These samples, it's a semen sample, it's blood, it can be hair, it can be urine, it can be feces,

02:02any kind of biological fluid or tissue.

02:07And after two hours, they are stored in small aliquots, 70 microliters, in this format,

02:14in the biobank.

02:16The total budget for the project is 6.7 million euros, 44% of which has been funded

02:22by the European Cohesion Policy, 16.77% by Høystedden, the capital region of Denmark,

02:29and another 16.77% by the region of Skåne, and 22.46% by Ferrying Pharmaceuticals.

02:36Thanks to this project, Kasper and Gru are hoping for a brighter future.

02:41Hopefully we will have one more. We have one more egg, so when Gru is ready,

02:46I think we will start again, so Esther can have a little brother, a little sister.