Reprogenetica participates in a grant application (Call: HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-CARE-01 — End user-driven application of Generative Artificial Intelligence models in healthcare) led by innovative researcher and Professor Masoud Zamani Esteki under the auspices of Maastricht University Medical Center. An international consortium, comprising over 25 partners including leading universities, hospitals, biotech start-ups, and citizen-science organizations across Europe and Canada, has submitted a proposal under the Horizon Europe grant.
The consortium’s goal is ambitious: to leverage multimodal, federated GenAI to make pregnancy safer and more personalized from conception through birth. By securely integrating genomics, imaging, and clinical data, the initiative aims to predict embryo-transfer success, identify pregnancy-associated and severe fetal diseases earlier, and support shared decision-making between patients and clinicians. If funded, the project is expected to pioneer non-invasive, data-driven care pathways, reduce unnecessary procedures, and ultimately improve maternal and child health outcomes.
Such a large-scale proposal is only possible through dedicated collaboration. Special recognition is given to Masoud Zamani Esteki for his vision and leadership, as well as to the core task force of his collaborators and team.
Scholarly works of the team members
- First pilot study of maternal spindle transfer for the treatment of repeated in vitro fertilization failures in couples with idiopathic infertility. Fertil Steril. 2023. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2023.02.008. Costa-Borges N, Nikitos E, et al., Title. Journal, Year. DOI] –MST, a pilot clinical trial transferring patient spindles into donor oocytes, contribute to prove technically feasible but exhibited unproven for infertility treatment; notably, mtDNA reversal in one child highlights implications for mitochondrial replacement therapies impact, e.g., non-invasive approaches for embryo assessment.
- Contribution to ESHRE PGT consortium best practice guideline for detection of structural, numerical and chromosomal aberrations (PGT-SR, PGT-A). Edith Coonen , Carmen Rubio , Dimitra Christopikou et. al, Human Reproduction Open. 2020 (10.1093/hropen/hoaa017). Guidelines of ESHRE PGT-SR/PGT-A Working Group provided good practice recommendations on the technical aspects, training, general risk assessment,the examination and post-examination process of PGT for chromosomal structural rearrangements (PGT-SR) and for aneuploidies (PGT-A).
- Polar body analysis by array comparative genomic hybridization accurately predicts aneuploidies of maternal meiotic origin in cleavage stage embryos of women of advanced maternal age, Dimitra Christopikou , Erika Tsorva et al., Human Reproduction.2013. This study showed that PB1 and PB2 analysis by arrayCGH can reliably predict most aneuploidies in cleavage-stage embryos, though some small copy number changes—mainly in PB1—were not accurately reflected, likely due to artefacts (DOI: 10.1093/humrep/det053).
- Spindle and chromosome configurations of human oocytes matured in vitro in two different culture media. Reprod Biomed Online. D Christopikou , C Karamalegos, et al., 2010. With this study Dimitra Christopikou and colleuages showed that hormonal supplementation during in-vitro maturation improves oocyte maturation rates but does not correct spindle defects or chromosomal abnormalities, underscoring limitations of IVM in preserving oocyte quality. PMID: 20347392 DOI: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2010.02.005
- The combination of calcium ionophore A23187 and GM-CSF can safely salvage aged human unfertilized oocytes after ICSI. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2017 Konstantinos A Economou , Dimitra Christopikou et al., 2017.The study demonstrated that artificial activation of unfertilized aged oocytes with a calcium ionophore, combined with GM-CSF supplementation, improved embryo development and increased the proportion of euploid blastocysts compared to ionophore alone, supporting the potential of this protocol for generating viable embryos from post-ICSI oocytes. PMID: 27743290 DOI: 10.1007/s10815-016-0823-0