Man fathers 'miracle' child using sperm frozen 22 years ago

A man who had his sperm frozen while suffering leukaemia as a teenager has fathered a child after doctors successfully thawed his sample a record 22 years later.

Chris Biblis was advised to have his sperm frozen before undergoing radiotherapy that would leave him sterile at age 16.
He survived the cancer and at age 38 has become the father of a healthy baby daughter, Stella.

She was conceived after scientists injected a defrosted sperm into an egg from Mr Biblis's wife, Melodie, and implanted it in her uterus.
The 22-year lapse between storage in April 1986 and conception in June 2008 is the longest on record, according to specialists at the US fertility clinic who carried out the procedure.

“From my life being saved to being able to create a life, words just can’t describe where we are now,” Mr Biblis, of Charlotte, North Carolina, told ABC news.

“I’ve got this bundle of joy to appreciate. It’s truly a miracle."
The case is being hailed as an illustration of how far infertility treatment has advanced in the past two decades. The previous record was 21 years.
"We believe this is a world record," said Bonnie Schwab of Vanguard Communications in Colorado, which represents the Charlotte doctors.
Even the thought of freezing sperm was unusual in the 1980s, said Dr. Richard Wing, the Biblises' doctor and founder of the Charlotte fertility clinic.

The couple have five frozen embryos and some of Chris Biblis' remaining frozen sperm in the bank if they want to have more children.

SOURCE: telegraph.co.uk

Gene discovery may lead to male contraceptive

There is hope on the horizon for infertile men with news of the discovery of gene mutations linked to male infertility possibly leading to a male contraceptive - and new fertility treatments.

WebMD is reporting the mutations discovered make it hard for a gene to make a protein essential for normal sperm movement, possibly inhibiting male fertility.

The gene, called CATSPER1, may well prove a productive avenue for male infertility solutions – while blocking the gene could possibly be a way of creating a male contraceptive say the researchers.

However, don’t hold your breath for a male birth control pill any time soon say the researchers, who published their results in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

SOURCE: NBR.CO.NZ