Increase Your Chances of Pregnancy with Tech
Aisling Fourie
Webinar
56 min
00:00:00 Welcome to tonight's webinar. My name is Sebastian and I'm the co-founder of Concevio. Today I'm the host for Vanessa. Let's go to discuss a lot about femtec. The aim of these webinars is to discuss fertility and science-based tool that can help you optimize your fertility and chance of becoming pregnant. I am the scientific co-founder of Concevio. I have
00:00:27 been working many years in the science industry and I'm taking my PhD from the been working many years in the science industry and I'm taking my PhD from the hospital. Personally, I have been in this fertility journey for more than seven years. My journey and my pain have made my mission to provide help with others trying to conceive. And I know Vanessa is doing the same, so I'm looking much forward to seeing all the femtec that you can use
00:00:48 to help yourself require the right skills and also the right tools to understand and educate yourself on fertility. So Vanessa, Julia Capen, the host of PhD in designing for meaningfulness and So Vanessa, Julia Capen, the host of PhD in designing for meaningfulness and features of my products from all the university here in Chromahednium-Demmar. She's also the founder
00:01:10 and designer of Kinsuki Design at the Science Studio specializing in femtec and emerging technologies. She has also founded the Nordic Women in Hardware Network, the Icelandic Women in Immersive Tech chapter and is a member of the Danish Design Council and is one of the experts in the Danish Society of Engineer Expert Panel, also called Ira, the experts in the Danish Society of Engineer Expert Panel, also called Ira,
00:01:34 also Hien-Demmar. So as you can get an idea of all of these kinds of achievements, she is a well- known and well established in femtec and in check-in general. Together with Vanessa, it is our wish to provide you with science-based educational content with infertility. That helps you separate the confusing information you can get from Google. I guess everyone knows that
00:01:57 going on Google can be very helpful or the opposite, not very helpful and often it on Google can be very helpful or the opposite, not very helpful and often it cannot actually be misguided. So my aim is to give you the tools and the information that shows you what is founded in science. To deliver that, we are launching an app in October, which gives
00:02:16 you free access to educational content. This includes a personal generated program based on your needs. And our app is not going to be featured in Vanessa's talk because we haven't launched yet, but you will get a pretty good idea on how we complement the apps launched yet, but you will get a pretty good idea on how we complement the apps out there. Furthermore, we have an anonymous community and we also have a science-based
00:02:38 coach which we call CanSivia, which is trained on scientific literature. And all of this content you can get for free when signing up for our app in October. So enough about CanSivia, today we are like welcome Vanessa and she is going to teach you about how you can improve fertility with hand-taking. At the end of the webinar, Vanessa and I are going to host a
00:02:58 with hand-taking. At the end of the webinar, Vanessa and I are going to host a Q&A session. So write your questions in the chat during the presentation or save them to the end. We'll do our best to answer as many as possible or else we will get back to you on email to answer these questions. So with that, thank you so much for drawing up Vanessa and I'm
00:03:21 very delighted to learn from you today about how we can utilize Brimtech in fertility. I'm just going to share my screen here. Thank you so much for the lovely I'm just going to share my screen here. Thank you so much for the lovely introduction and thanks to everyone for coming tonight. I know it's late in the evening and if you're in Denmark, you're probably attending tech barbecue. So it's been a long day,
00:03:41 but hopefully this will be a very exciting talk about fertility tech. So I'm just going to jump right in. I wanted to introduce myself a little bit just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from. So I've been designing new technologies and experiences for the past 20 years. All over the world, I'm originally from Canada. I moved to Sweden to do my
00:03:59 over the world, I'm originally from Canada. I moved to Sweden to do my interaction design master's degree and then eventually came to Denmark. And there I started working with interactive art and technology making interactive art experiences. I worked with Delta, which is also forced technology, helping companies to develop new technologies. So really working
00:04:21 with them from a design perspective, but also from the hardware side. And there is where I started my PhD, which I'll tell you about in just a second. And in my own I started my PhD, which I'll tell you about in just a second. And in my own company called Kansuki Design, we work with explorative prototypes and very much within fem tech. So my specialization is within menopause actually. And I'm very excited to learn about this
00:04:44 fertility area with you tonight. I've also worked with an experience design within a place in Iceland called Gagarin. It's a studio there where we made interactive museum installations. installations. And the reason I'm mentioning all of this is because I've seen so many different ways
00:05:04 that technology can be. So when we say fertility tech, it sounds a little bit scary. It sounds a little bit like what are we talking about, but it's actually super, super interesting what is possible, the tools that are available to us. So having seen all these different types of tech and all these different ways that people interact with technology , I was
00:05:22 really interested in how can we design for meaningfulness? And what I mean by that is how can we create products or services, which matter to people in the long term how can we create products or services, which matter to people in the long term , and which help them to develop as a person. So that's where I'm coming from. And the way that I'm talking about that is often in three ways as a people-to-people connection,
00:05:44 right, from you to me, as a person to self, who am I, who do I want to be, and people to a sense of time, right? So especially if you're on a fertility journey, time is of the essence always. And where I'm coming from is this land where there was like this put a always. And where I'm coming from is this land where there was like this put a chip
00:06:05 in a mentality and a chip refers to the electronics. And so everything that I was working with was really like it was getting to a point of ridiculousness. You know, there was a smart egg tray where you could find out how many eggs were left in your fridge. And this is interesting and potentially useful while you're at the grocery store, but ultimately a little
00:06:23 bit silly, right? You can also just take a look before you leave. A more ridiculous example is a smart wine bottle, which tells you where the wine is from and all the is a smart wine bottle, which tells you where the wine is from and all the attributes of the wine. But you have to imagine there's a screen in your bottle. And what happens when you're done drinking that wine? And a personal favorite that I think is
00:06:42 just so relevant for this audience tonight is smart condoms. Now, smart condoms allow you to compare with your friends, your thrusting aptitude and how often and things like this, because you can put electronics in condoms. So you can see kind of how technologies become a little bit silly, a little bit unnecessary, perhaps. And even though we have designed
00:06:59 bit silly, a little bit unnecessary, perhaps. And even though we have designed ever-weezing everything, and we have put chips in all sorts of places where chips do not belong. We've forgotten one thing, which of course is women. So that is where my technology journey starts from. Now, this is not so surprising. Women's health has been severely and historically under
00:07:25 researched. I can really recommend the book Invisible Women by Carolina Criato researched. I can really recommend the book Invisible Women by Carolina Criato Perez. And there's all these different articles which are showing us now that women's health is really just being opened up for the first time to study, to see what's possible , to see where we can go with it. So today's talk, there's a lot of really exciting
00:07:45 new developments. I'm kind of trying to create awareness about this. So I have a couple of places that I'm doing this. One of them is TechTruster, where I'm the editor and I work with journalists to write about FEMTech. So if you're interested in FEMTech, which we write for to write about FEMTech. So if you're interested in FEMTech, which we write for the everyday
00:08:04 women, we are not writing deep technology articles, we're writing in a very accessible way, but we're telling you what's happening within technology for women. As Sebastian mentioned, I'm running the Women in Hardware Network. I'm also writing for greater spaces on the engineering blog. I'm co-leading the Women in Immersive Tech in Iceland and very excitingly,
00:08:27 I just became a founding partner of FEMTech Studios, who if you are in Denmark I just became a founding partner of FEMTech Studios, who if you are in Denmark and going to Tech BBQ, we have a session tomorrow, all about FEMTech. We're going to have some amazing speakers there so you can check out our website FEMTech Studios. And one of the people who is going to be speaking tomorrow is Edetine. And Edetine is one of
00:08:47 the people, okay, there's a typo there, that should say Edetine. She has coined the term F EMTech. And she says FEMTech will not be a term referring to women in technology, but rather as an expanding rather as an expanding category of technology that serves the vast opportunities that exist for female health.
00:09:07 So I like to think of female health as the maiden, the mother, and the crone. So it might be very witchy of me, but we have these three phases in our life. Whether or not we are reproductive, we can be motherly in other ways. But in industry, people think of women as reproductive, post-reproductive, and something else. We don't know what you as reproductive, post-reproductive, and something else. We don't know what you
00:09:30 're doing if you're not being reproductive or post reproductive. So that's kind of a problem because we're not looking at women in a holistic sense. There is however, a lot of different companies out there who are trying to look into this. So this is part of the FEMTech analytics, looking at the FEMTech area. And the reason that I'm showing you this slide,
00:09:50 and also telling you that it's a billion dollar industry, and that a lot of people are investing in this, is because this area matters. And this area is going to hopefully help this, is because this area matters. And this area is going to hopefully help you on your fertility journey. So it's really exciting that people are investing in it right now.
00:10:06 I have a little disclaimer. My disclaimer is I'm not a medical professional. I 'm only a doctor of meaningfulness. PhD. I am a technology and design expert, but I'm not a fertility expert. I have not had children. I have not gone through a fertility journey. And my heart is with you if you're going through this. I hope all the best for you, and I is with you if you're going through this. I hope all the best for you, and I
00:10:30 hope that these technologies can help you. So there may be some people in this talk today who are just starting their fertility journey, or maybe you've been around the sun a few times and you've tried this out. But for those people who are just starting, I wanted to give you a little fertility primer. Again, I had to do some research to understand some
00:10:53 of these things myself, because we are not told this. What I was told was that I would bleed every month. And that's what you think your menstrual cycle is. But it's not just month. And that's what you think your menstrual cycle is. But it's not just bleeding. And then there's this thing called ovulation. You're going to ovulate. But it's actually
00:11:08 pretty complex process. And then we have sperm. Just sperm. That's all. But sperm actually has a ton of different qualities and attributes and all sorts of things that we have to think about when we're talking about sperm. So let's first talk about the menstrual cycle. I will not spend a lot of time on this, but this is just some background info, because
00:11:28 when I'm talking about the technologies later on, it's super important that we when I'm talking about the technologies later on, it's super important that we have clue what they're referring to. So we have our menstruation. This is when we're bleeding. That's fine. We've tried that. Then we move on to the follicular phase. So in the follicular phase, your pituitary gland is actually releasing this follicle stimulating
00:11:50 hormone. Now I've had testing done for menopause, and then they test my FSH levels. So I actually had to go what is that? So it's important that we learn about these different things. At what is that? So it's important that we learn about these different things. At this time in the follicular phase, you basically have a tholocile, which forms, which has an egg
00:12:07 inside. And that actually causes more estrogen to be released into your body. This increased estrogen thickens your uterine line. So we're kind of getting ready for stuff to happen here. The increased estrogen throughout this phase then triggers a decrease in FSH. And then this high estrogen level also causes another hormone, luteinizing hormone, then this high estrogen level also causes another hormone, luteinizing hormone,
00:12:34 which is called LH, to be released, causing the mature egg to actually escape the follicle. Okay, so that starts ovulation. So that's where we're at. This is the kick starter for the whole thing. Then we're in the ovulation phase. Okay, exciting times the egg is traveling. It's going on a journey. It's off to the fallopian tube. It can only survive 12
00:12:57 to 24 hours, whereas sperm by the way can survive for several days. And your cervical mucus whereas sperm by the way can survive for several days. And your cervical mucus turns clear and slippery. So one way that people can sometimes tell if they're in ovulation is by actually looking at their cervical mucus, which is what some of the devices I'm going to tell you
00:13:11 about do. Your basal body temperature increases slightly. So that's also super interesting. And then we get to the luteal phase, right? So this is preparing your uterus for pregnancy. We're increasing progesterone levels. We're thickening the uterine lining. The cervical mucus is also thickening. Everything's kind of thickening, getting juicy, ready mucus is also thickening. Everything's kind of thickening, getting juicy, ready
00:13:32 , preventing bacteria from entering. And if the egg is not fertilized or does not implant, then you continue on to menstruation. So I just want to say that was a lot of words, but I'm going to use some of those words later on when I'm describing the tech. One of the things that's super interesting, I just want to say as a side note is that there's something
00:13:50 called cycle sinking. So cycle sinking is really, really interesting. And it's something that a lot of people are doing to combine, okay, now I'm in my luteal phase. Now I'm feeling like this, I should eat these foods and do these types of exercise in this type like this, I should eat these foods and do these types of exercise in this type of work.
00:14:02 So it's actually super cool to hack your body and figure out how it works and when you're going to be energetic or creative or need some downtime or whatever else really . So let's talk about sperm, just for a moment. So over 50% of the time, there's actually a male infertility issue. Some of the common causes of male infertility include variocelli,
00:14:28 that's when there's a valve malfunction, which causes the blood to flow back that's when there's a valve malfunction, which causes the blood to flow back into the testes and the temperature to go up and causing less sperm to occur. There is azosperm ia, this is the absence of the sperm in semen due to a blockage or many, many other reasons. There are things like environmental factors like drugs, alcohol, tobacco
00:14:49 consumption or genetic disorders or sexually transmitted infections. And there's a lot of different tests that can be done for male fertility, like semen analysis and blood tests. And we're going to talk about some of those as well. But just to say that often we're going to talk about some of those as well. But just to say that often when we're
00:15:02 talking about fertility, we only have a cure built with it. There is another half to this. So just a couple lingo bits for you that I myself also had to become familiar with. So IVF refers to individual fertilization. IUI is intrauterine insemination and ART is any kind of assisted reproductive technology. And just to give you an idea of this, in 2021,
00:15:28 there were 37 European countries, so counting them all. There was 1,103,633 there were 37 European countries, so counting them all. There was 1,103,633 assisted reproductive technology treatment, assisted reproductive technology treatment cycles. Say that 10 times fast. So it is not seldom that this is happening. This is not rare. This is very, very common. So a lot of people feel alone in this journey and there really should be more
00:15:53 community for that, which, you know, talk to Sebastian about that. He's starting up an app. So let's get into the fertility tech. So there are four main types of fertility get into the fertility tech. So there are four main types of fertility monitoring devices. We have wearables. We have vaginal devices, inserts, this sort of thing. We have urine
00:16:10 testing monitors and we have basal body thermometers. And if you remember the different phases of our menstrual cycle, these are measuring different things in our body that are correlated to that. Okay. So jumping right in. One of the first products we're talking about today is temp drop. By the way, I have nothing to do with any of these products. I is temp drop. By the way, I have nothing to do with any of these products. I
00:16:30 just did some research, found out about them. There's one or two who I know some people, but that's it. This one is a temperature monitoring arm band. You put it on before you go to bed and then it actually does continue monitoring through the night. Now it is FDA registered and CE marked. And what that means is that they've gone through a lot of
00:16:48 paperwork to make sure that they're doing things correctly and that it can actually be trusted to provide good data. What else is interesting about temp drop is it actually gives you access to your data and gives you the ability to download it, which not everybody does to your data and gives you the ability to download it, which not everybody does . The
00:17:04 or ring in case you've heard that I have actually had one for a couple of years myself is a ring that you wear with many, many sensors inside of it. And it monitors sleep and activity. It actually has seven temperature sensors within it. So it's measuring 1,440 data points each day. And these are validated. So this is a medically validated device, which can measure
00:17:26 temperature changes as precisely as 0.13 degrees. Okay. So it's giving you a temperature changes as precisely as 0.13 degrees. Okay. So it's giving you a really good reading on your temperature. Natural cycles isn't out. Now what they're doing is they 're doing ovulation prediction via temperature. So they can see if you've had, if you remember during the ovulation phase, your temperature is rising a little bit, right? It's
00:17:48 actually just during your luteal phase, just a little bit before temperature is rising a little bit. And so here we're actually doing some temperature monitoring to predict ovulation, right? So right? So there's this is for a lot of people who are not interested in hormone conception. They
00:18:04 don't want to take any hormones, patches, pills, none of that jazz. They just want to monitor their own bodies. So what they're using is they're using an Apple Watch or an or a ring or just a thermometer to take their temperature every morning to see if it's changed, logging it with the app. And if you're using the Apple Watch or the or a ring, it automatically gets
00:18:23 logged. And then you're able to see whether or not you're fertile or not at the moment. moment. So it's basically saying, this is a good time to try. This is not a good time to try. And that's how it works. So it's actually really, really nice to have hormone free solutions. Ava fertility is a wearable. So again, you wear it when you're sleeping. It is
00:18:48 measuring a number of different things. It's measuring the passage of blood, your skin temperature, your heart rate variability, your breathing rate and your resting pulse rate. And I've just added a few numbers down here. You don't need to worry about them. But if just added a few numbers down here. You don't need to worry about them. But if you are a
00:19:02 financially interested person, it's kind of cool to see that they're raising money because this is an important area. So Ava fertility is you've got this wearable. And then in the morning, you can see again, the same as all the others. Are you ovulating? Are you approaching ovulation? Are you in ovulation? Are you ready to go? This one I gave is an example. Very
00:19:26 important. So we have a number of devices that I've just presented that are not cheap. They're cheap. They're not super expensive, but they're not cheap. But this one is cheap. And there are hundreds of these on Amazon. So this one is the thermometer ring. You wear it before bed . It monitors your finger temperature. But if you read the reviews, it's many questionable
00:19:45 reviews. Let's put it that way. It is not a medical device, right? So it's not reliable. It's not like the Apple Watch or the Aura Ring or Ava who are medically certified. The EV ring is another ring that's recently come out. It is a ring designed for women's health. So it ring that's recently come out. It is a ring designed for women's health. So it 's designed
00:20:03 with the woman in mind. And it's measuring a lot of different things. Heart rate, rest and heart rate, heart rate variability that relates to stress, something called sp2, which is the amount of oxygen saturation your blood has, your respiration rate, sk imming temperature, kind of all the same stuff as the Aura Ring. But interestingly on their website , they say
00:20:22 not intended to be used for contraceptive or other medical purposes. So that means that they haven't gotten that rating yet, right? So it's just good to be aware of they haven't gotten that rating yet, right? So it's just good to be aware of these things when you're purchasing wearables. The Y-Things Watch, I'm actually wearing one myself. I love this device and this company. It's one of the few wearables that CE marked
00:20:43 and FDA cleared as a medical raid device. So I'm using mine for basically monitoring my heart for ECG monitoring, electrocardiogram monitoring and in the newest version, they do temperature monitoring as well. So I think this is going to be a huge hit in the fertility monitoring as well. So I think this is going to be a huge hit in the fertility technology
00:21:01 scene because it's, there's mine, you can see the one in the picture as well, but it's classy. It's a nice watch. It's not a, you know, big monitor on your arm. There are also some different advances being made within universities who are doing research in this area like advanced fertility tracking via sweat biosensors, super cool stuff, very nerdy.
00:21:23 I like it a lot, but just to say that there's a lot of research being done in this area as well. This particular one is by Wei Gao in, who's a biomedical engineer at as well. This particular one is by Wei Gao in, who's a biomedical engineer at the California Institute of Technology. Okay, vaginal devices. So Keg is measuring your cervical fluid. So if you remember, we talked about how the cervical fluid becomes clear and
00:21:43 slippery and then it thickens. So this device you put in for two minutes in the morning when you first wake up and it detects changes in cervical fluid and then it displays your fertile window. Right? So it helps you use your time when they should conceive. It's also Right? So it helps you use your time when they should conceive. It's also raised a bunch
00:22:01 of money and has a lot of great scientific backing. So definitely wanted to check out. Obvious sense is measuring your body temperature. So it is also one that you can, they have two sensors, one which is an insertable and one which is worn on your wrist or under your armpit. And so they actually use both of these to sort of like correlate and find
00:22:27 out what is your core body temperature and has it risen and are you entering out what is your core body temperature and has it risen and are you entering your ovulation phase? The mirror is now we're moving into the urine analysis at home. Right? So there of course are different tests you can do where you peon a stick in. It tells you if you're ovulating or not. But this one is getting a little bit more complex. So
00:22:51 it is monitoring you and you're basically it's kind of the same way that a COVID test works. Right? It's called immunography. Try to say that. That's not easy to say. But anyways, It's called immunography. Try to say that. That's not easy to say. But anyways, it's kind of the same as a COVID test. And so what it is monitoring is luteinizing homeral. If
00:23:09 you remember, I spoke about that. And that is going to predict ovulation and your fertile window. It's monitoring something called E3G. And that is your S-troned three gluc coronide. See this is why I'm not the doctor part. I can't say these words. Not with the measure, but can't say them. And this is also predicting ovulation. Then you have, I'm but can't say them. And this is also predicting ovulation. Then you have, I'm
00:23:30 just going to say the letters of this now rather than butchering it, PDG. And this is confirming ovulation. And then of course we have our favorites, the follicle stimulating hormone to understand where you are in your fertility journey. Remember at first it's high and then it lowers down. Right? So it is actually identifying your six most fertile days and it
00:23:51 comes with a fertility coach, which is very exciting. We have a product called Modern F ertility. And here they actually review your case with a doctor. And then you do a blood And here they actually review your case with a doctor. And then you do a blood sample at home. And then they send you a result. So this is customized hormone testing. And they
00:24:11 have a 10-day result window where some of the other ones are, you know, within minutes, within days, this one is a 10-day window. Clear blue is probably the one that you might have tried or might have seen in the store. Clear blue for years and years has been making pregnancy tests, but now they're making a full fertile window monitor. They are tracking tests, but now they're making a full fertile window monitor. They are tracking
00:24:33 estrogen and luteinizing hormone. And so basically it's like a digital device that stores up to six cycles. So you can see what has been happening for the past five cycles. And they say, you know, good tips. Maybe you've already tried this. You must always use the first year and after your longest sleep. Right? So they have a lot of, you know, they have a
00:24:55 lot of experience in this area and how to guide people through this process, which is really nice in this area and how to guide people through this process, which is really nice to see. Prove is a whole program. It's called the Prove Path Pregnancy. You get three F SH. That is the follicle stimulating hormone tests. You get 17 multi-hormone tests. And basically
00:25:16 what happens is that you can do the test at home. You get the results in 10 minutes and it gives you an overview. It gives you an ovulation score and it's an overview of all these different hormone tests so that you can see really where you are in your cycle cycle and be able to predict when ovulation is going to be happening. They also look
00:25:34 at sperm and they also have a test to confirm pregnancy. Premal is a fun name, Premal. And so what they do is they have an app and it's kind of similar to the last one. You do some ovulation test strips by urine testing and then you upload this data. And the way that you do that is you actually scan the test strip. Right? So imagine, again, it's just
00:25:59 easiest easiest to relate to a COVID test or maybe a pregnancy test, but you just scan it and then it says, okay, what was the outcome? And then it puts it into the app for you so you don 't have to enter that data yourself. I have her to note, always read and reviews. I'll just
00:26:14 leave that up there. It's always good to read the reviews. This one had some interesting ones. Daisy is kind of the same idea as natural cycles, but it includes its own thermometer. So it's a thermometer with an app and it distinguishes between non-fertile and So it's a thermometer with an app and it distinguishes between non-fertile and fertile days with an accuracy of over 99%. It is a certified medical device. Right? So that's
00:26:39 actually a really important point. And so it is measuring your temperature in the morning and it's reporting it in an app and then it's also entering your own menstruation data. Why things ? Who's the same that did this much? They also have this thermometer. It's kind of interesting. So I'm going to use my phone to demonstrate. You just pointed at your head. And it's
00:26:59 very fast. very fast. It's a couple of seconds. And it's medical grade and it has 16 infrared sensors which take 4,000 measurements. So there is a very, very accurate temperature reading on this device. We have ENA. ENA is saliva-based testing. So that's another way that you can test your
00:27:18 hormones and to see what's happening. So you can actually detect your progester one levels in your saliva. And this one is kind of nice because all the other ones, it's like, have you slept well? Is it your first year in? Do you have a drink of alcohol? This you slept well? Is it your first year in? Do you have a drink of alcohol? This one has a four-hour window for testing and then it's just your saliva. So in some ways
00:27:40 it's kind of easier to fit into your life. OVOM is, this is the one where I know the team behind it. They did a beautiful, beautiful project which was really for the partners because you can hear that all these things that I've been presenting are for the person who has a uterus. But this one is actually for tilly to tracking for partners. And the
00:27:58 a uterus. But this one is actually for tilly to tracking for partners. And the idea is you again measure the saliva. But this time this little device projects a beautiful image up on the wall. And the image is, it's called reverse crystallography. And what it is, is you can see when things change by looking at this beautiful image. And then you can see
00:28:20 when you're starting to ovulate. So it's just a very nice experience for both partners, which I think is a really nice way to look at things rather than hiding in a bathroom. Alright, we have salistic. Salistic is actually very popular. It's already Alright, we have salistic. Salistic is actually very popular. It's already available in South Africa. The UAE and Israel will soon be in the UK. Here we have the pregnancy
00:28:43 test, but they are actually detecting the pregnancy hormone in saliva. So they're, you know, working towards that testing of different types of hormones using saliva. And then we have a lot of different apps, right? There are so many different apps out there. Clue is very, very big. You might have heard of Clue. They have Clue conceive now. There's
00:28:59 very big. You might have heard of Clue. They have Clue conceive now. There's glow. There is flow. There is the period calendar period tracker. There's Ovia. There's proof that one comes with test. There's natural cycles. So there's a lot of different apps out there to help you track things. And here there are, okay, so we're moving a little bit from testing
00:29:20 to what can support you. So I just want to say that the apps also have this community aspect, right? Some of them do. And that's very important because like I said, this can right? Some of them do. And that's very important because like I said, this can be a very lonely journey. So that's one of the things that I'm really excited to see your app Sebastian in October, because I want to see that community aspect and like that support aspect, that
00:29:42 education aspect. So moving on a little bit, this one is about at home insemination. So again, more fertility tech for you. So this is an intra-faginal insemination kit. And what happens is some clever designers figured out that in order for you to suck up the semen in a good way into this figured out that in order for you to suck up the semen in a good way into this syringe,
00:30:05 it needs to be shaped a certain way, right? So this was designed by women with an insight from a fertility specialist. And the idea is that this is maybe when you have one partner, the male, who is providing the semen, and there's maybe not a physical relationship between the two. So you want to transfer the semen to the vagina in a good way without intercourse. want to transfer the semen to the vagina in a good way without intercourse.
00:30:30 This is the solution, the MOSI baby kit. There are several different solutions on the market like this. There is, you can Google that, but I think the MOSI kit was super interesting from a design perspective. Then we have legacy. Legacy is what's called a digital fertility kit. So they actually do at home collection of semen. And then they do testing and analysis of that semen to see
00:30:55 what the quality is like. And then you send it off and it gets frozen in a secure lab. And then is like. And then you send it off and it gets frozen in a secure lab. And then it's ready and waiting for you when you want to have children. So it's just a super nice way to skip the clinic for securing things in a lab. I included this one because of course it's an example of fertility
00:31:16 tech. And it's just, it's a fun but important study that was done to see if virtual reality could help with sperm quality. So they said that the effects of virtual reality areot ica on the ejaculate quality of sperm donors actually resulted in a pretty good result. So ejaculate quality of sperm donors actually resulted in a pretty good result. So they said they show a clear advantage in VR use during sperm collection in a clinical setting when
00:31:40 the donor's period of abstinence was short. This is a super weird part. So if your abstinence period was short, as in there was no ejaculation for less than 24 hours, then there was an increased semen sperm count of 50% of almost 50%, which is super interesting. And how that relates to VR also super interesting, but just a fun one in there for me. And then getting
00:31:58 also super interesting, but just a fun one in there for me. And then getting more into sperm testing, there are some different products out there that you can use to test sperm at home. This one won an award this year at one of the biggest consumer electronic shows , it's called CS. And so what it is doing, it is testing the concentration and the total mot ility of sperm.
00:32:21 Right? So it's actually looking at how much is it moving and how many sperm are there. And the idea is that you do semen collection at home, and then you actually, And the idea is that you do semen collection at home, and then you actually, you can just see that this person has just put their camera on top of this thing, and then it's able to see the sperm. So you can both see it on your phone, which is really cool, but also
00:32:42 it's analyzed, and you can get a feedback to say, this is what your quality of sperm is. Exceed is also doing this. They are CE certified with over 95% accuracy. So it 's a very, very, very similar program. And you can see here, here's an example of a screenshot very similar program. And you can see here, here's an example of a screenshot where they're saying, okay, this is a normal range. And you can also get this professional
00:33:08 consultation on the side if you would want that. So I'm going to just take a drink here, talking a lot. I'm going to tell you, these were all consumer based things. So one of the important take homes from this is that there's a lot that you can try, or you can do, or you can go to a store and buy to support your fertility journey. Right? Again, I have not been on a fertility to support your fertility journey. Right? Again, I have not been on a fertility
00:33:33 journey. I have no idea how difficult it is or the emotional part, whatever else I've only heard from friends. So for me, I'm just really interested in how technology can support people in meaningful ways. Right? Things that actually help you that don't hinder you, that are not gimm icky, but actually help you go forward in your journey. So hopefully some of these examples have
00:33:56 helped you to see that. So I wanted to just spend a little bit of time telling you about the medical So I wanted to just spend a little bit of time telling you about the medical and research areas and what's happening there. So of course within IVF, there are a lot of new technologies coming up. We're in a period of insane new technologies and with AI and everything that's happening is just
00:34:16 incredible. So there's a lot of different things happening here. And I'm just going to present a few of those to you now. This is AI for fertility. So here we have AI and machine learning. Machine learning means that the computer learns from what's happening and the AI is learning means that the computer learns from what's happening and the AI is artificial intelligence. And that means that it's computing a lot of stuff and calculating it and
00:34:38 figuring out doing predictions. So this one is ovarian follicular monitoring. And so this company has two different products. They have something called embryo aid, which is helping to judge an embryo's potential for implantation. And they have fallis scan, which is measuring, it's called ultrasonography. ultrasonography.
00:35:01 And it's actually counting the follicles. So if you've been to your OBGYN, they might have said, oh, you have, you know, you're looking good, you have lots of eggs, etc, etc. And this one is actually able to go in and count those and be very precise about it. Right. Then there's some apps in this area. So this is called the ALI life app and it is managing the IV F process. So this
00:35:29 is a patient focused app for actually helping you to manage the process of IVF. is a patient focused app for actually helping you to manage the process of IVF. So it's tracking your medication, your everything, your payments, your symptoms, it gives you education, it's tracking your timeline. There's also the MB app, which is a little bit more than the other one, as far as I understand it. Again, I haven't tried them. I've done some research
00:35:50 into them. This one has medically reviewed resources and videos. And it has a care plan for whatever journey you happen to be on IUI, IVF, ICSI for some embryo transfers, whatever it is. you happen to be on IUI, IVF, ICSI for some embryo transfers, whatever it is. So I just mentioned ICSI. You might be wondering what that is. That is intra-cy to-plasmic sperm injection. And what that means is super precise injection of sperm into an egg,
00:36:18 injection of a single high quality sperm into an egg. Right. So six out of 10 IVF procedures actually use this. And it's quite successful from what I've read. Embryoscope is time-lapsed And it's quite successful from what I've read. Embryoscope is time-lapsed imaging. So right now, in medical offices, they would have to take the embryo out of an incubator, check it out and put
00:36:41 it back in. But with the embryo scope, they actually have incubators that have built in microscopes and cameras to take photos every 10 minutes so that the embryo is safe inside of the incubator. And it uses artificial intelligence to automatically analyze these embryos as well. Of course, you always have a medical professional who's overlooking this, but Of course, you always have a medical professional who's overlooking this, but
00:37:00 the AI can help to judge this because it's comparing millions and millions and millions of results in minutes. Things that are available but not really that talked about is things like reproductive tissue prioro preservation. So this is freezing reproductive tissue, right? And you might use this if you're undergoing cancer treatment or something else, but in this way, just like we
00:37:26 freeze sperm, we can freeze reproductive tissue. We also have endometrial receptivity analysis. So freeze reproductive tissue. We also have endometrial receptivity analysis. So this is a test to measure how thick the uterine lining is and see if the endometrium is actually ready for embryo implantation. So before starting the whole idea of thing, you might go something called an ERA to see if it's
00:37:47 going to help, to see if this treatment is the right time. There is also something that I just heard about at a conference. I actually got to meet the doctors who have done this procedure. It was an amazing talk, very fascinating. So for women with uterine factor infertility an amazing talk, very fascinating. So for women with uterine factor infertility , who are either born without uterus or who have undergone a hysterectomy, or who do not have a
00:38:12 functioning uterus, you can get uterine transplant surgery. So taking the uterus from someone and putting it in someone else, which is just mind-blowing. But it's out there, it's happening, it's available, and I think it's super nice that you're able to donate to their Project Ant Womb Transplant UK. super nice that you're able to donate to their Project Ant Womb Transplant UK. org.
00:38:34 There's also robotic IVF, so this is a 93% likelihood of fertilization versus 89 because you have a very, very, very precise machine that is doing the IVF treatment. And then of course we have pharmaceuticals. So there's companies like Fearing, Perminking Different Drugs, things that are stimulating hormones, controlling the timing of ovarian stimulation, inducing ovulation, and also managing and preventing pre
00:38:54 ovarian stimulation, inducing ovulation, and also managing and preventing pre term labor. So super interesting. There are also, which is very exciting, oral fertility drugs. So women typically undergo around 60 injections over two treatment cycles, and now you can actually take an oral drug just a pill to replace that, which is probably a very nice replacement instead of
00:39:22 having to do an injection. And in progress are all sorts of crazy technologies like in vitro game to game tog Genesis. Me pronouncing medical things. But anyways, it is basically game tog Genesis. Me pronouncing medical things. But anyways, it is basically taking people who have severe fertility issues and then creating eggs and sperm from somatic cells. Now this is decades away, but it's still super, super interesting research that's going on
00:39:51 right now. So I wanted to talk a little bit about fertility tech during pregnancy and birth and postpartum. We're just going to run through these really quickly, but I just postpartum. We're just going to run through these really quickly, but I just want you to know what's out there, because hopefully in your fertility journey, this part will be important soon. So Bloomlife is a company who is making a patch that you wear on the belly that
00:40:14 tracks the fetal movement. And this project is aiming to identify physiological markers to test for fetal distress and to predict early labor onset. So it's super, super interesting. It's a patch that the mother wears and that the doctor monitors, and it's just fascinating that this mother wears and that the doctor monitors, and it's just fascinating that this exists and that
00:40:33 it's monitoring the fetal movement in that way. They also have remote pregnancy monitoring. So they have, I can see that I have put the wrong name on this one. They should not say Bloomlife, but it should say new vu care. So I was just like, wait a second. So this is new vu care. As new vu care is, it is doing remote pregnancy monitoring. And they are, you wear this thing on your belly,
00:40:58 and then you can actually do appointments from home. So rather than having to and then you can actually do appointments from home. So rather than having to go into the doctor, you can just hop on a video call like this. And it's regulatory, cleared, it's clinically validated, and the doctor can see how you're doing from home, which is great. It saves time, saves energy, and I am assuming if you're a super pregnant, you do not feel like one
00:41:16 of the doctor's office. So then we have some technologies for birth. One of the ones who are my favorite of course are OAC care. They are some fabulous women in Denmark who have aimed to reduce OAC care. They are some fabulous women in Denmark who have aimed to reduce birth ruptures. So basically there's this midwife hold of the hands on the vagina and you hold in a certain way to
00:41:40 prevent birth ruptures. And these amazing women figured out that what if we made a patch, a single use medical adhesive device, which supports the skin and actually slows down the skin expansion so that you can give birth more safely. Because more than 93 women, 93 million women around the world women around the world actually experience birth ruptures. And about 110,000 of those women die. So
00:42:07 this is a super, it's not super simple, they're doing a lot of work and a lot of research, but a super straightforward device that can actually help many women. And then we have again virtual reality and birth, where is virtual reality not in our lives? So you can use VR to distract and reduce pain. And there was actually a study with 42 women.
00:42:29 with 42 women. And out of those, I think it was 20 out of 21, yeah, that's what it says, 20 out of 21 said they would like to use VR again in the future because their pain scores were quite lower when they use virtual reality during birth. So that's something for you. Jada is a medical device for use by doctors, but it controls and treats abnormal uterine bleeding. And here again,
00:42:55 you can see that this isn't necessarily there's no electronics in it, but it is technology has been isn't necessarily there's no electronics in it, but it is technology has been developed, it's a vacuum induced hemorrhage control device. So it's actually there for the treatment of abnormal postpartum uterine bleeding or hemorrhaging. And this is something that some women experience,
00:43:12 it could be very dangerous. But in a recent study of 800 women, it actually achieved success in 92.5%. So that's huge. This is a huge advancement. And if we relate back to what I was saying at the beginning of the talk, that we have not been looking at women's health very much in healthcare and much in healthcare and in research and in funding and everything else, this type of stuff that is
00:43:34 saving lives is just so important. So there is also fertility tech for baby and mom. There is, for example, the Miley, a milk sensing device to track your breastfeeding. So it's actually giving you a real time idea of your milk supply. It's doing analysis. It's finding out you can measure like was it the left or the right last time because I can tell from my friends they're way too
00:43:56 left or the right last time because I can tell from my friends they're way too tired to remember that. So you can you can log all this in their app and you can also analyze the nutritional content of your milk. There are things like breast pumps, wearable breast pumps. Now you might have seen or tried a breast pump where you're sitting on the couch and there's all these hoses and
00:44:18 everything else and you're not feeling your best perhaps. But what's beautiful is that there are a lot of companies coming out now who are doing wearable breast pumps. The top two are called two are called Willow and Elvie and they have this quote on their website saying they're spill proof even in downward dog. And of course they're both you can you can have them tracking so
00:44:42 that they're seeing how much milk you're producing and all sorts of stuff. But it's just really, really nice that you can go about your day, go about your business, run around, do errands and this thing is completely hidden inside of your broth which is just incredible. We have the outlet which is like the cutest baby sock ever and it is tracking the baby's pulse rate, oxygen, wakings and sleep
00:44:59 sock ever and it is tracking the baby's pulse rate, oxygen, wakings and sleep states. So if you've ever put your baby down for an app and freaked out, maybe some of my friends, kids and many times have been looking at their baby like every 12 seconds. Well this little socklet is telling you exactly how they're doing and giving you alerts. There is also some postpartum pelvic care and also
00:45:26 pelvic care in general which is the Elvie trainer. This is by the same people pelvic care in general which is the Elvie trainer. This is by the same people who do the breast pump and they're basically using biofeedback. So as this is an insertable, as you squeeze and do your people training then you can see how you're doing. There are many of these on the market. I do like the brand Elvie because they are doing extensive research which is really,
00:45:44 really nice. And then there is this emerging field of postpartum care because of course what's frustrating is that everybody talks about these trimesters, the three periods, the first trimester, the second trimester, the third trimester but periods, the first trimester, the second trimester, the third trimester but what about the fourth trimester? This is up to 12 weeks after pregnancy, sometimes beyond that. And this is when you have your baby
00:46:11 and everybody is super focused on the baby which is important but also the mom is going through everything ever. So it is physical, it is physiological, it is social and it is emotional. There's postpartum depression, there's pelvic floor health, there's a lot of stuff going on. And there are some companies who are actually starting to develop for this And there are some companies who are actually starting to develop for this
00:46:32 which is super nice. So this is a company called Forthware, very clever, who are making underwear which is having ice packs or heat packs depending on what you need that you can put into the through this period. And I just want you to remember that there are many, many solutions. Again, as Sebastian said at the beginning, you can Google, you're going to get overwhelmed
00:46:56 but definitely read reviews. Check out to see if they're FDA or CE cleared.
