Sorry wrong tag .. I definitely did NOT write this book

Thank you!!! This was a fun paper to do/write. But Aren't we all just really really really old embryos anyway? 🤣😅

Thanks Vicky!! I hope you're doing well!

Thanks Rikki! I hope all is well with you! 💪

Thanks for the kind words, mark!!

Thanks Vinny! I hope you and yours are doing well!!!

Amazingly, yes! Here, we indexed embryos, calculated compaction metrics, and selected Normal and Accelerated tempo’d embryos for later implantation assays. We find compaction metrics correlate with ultimate implantation potential – for both aged and young maternal conditions.

Well, we also find increased contractility in the aged embryo also correlates with faster compaction at the 8-cell stage. Could this be a possible metric to see which ones will implant?

But contractility tunes cell-cell adhesion (limiting spreading) and cell-substrate adhesion (promoting spreading). Aged embryos show higher blastocyst surface tension AND higher spreading forces via Traction Force Microscopy. Weird… So how can we explain reduced spreading?

Using mouse embryos, we visualize implantation in vitro to see what’s wrong in embryo development w/ advanced maternal age. In vitro implantation assays show aged embryos do not implant as efficiently.

Thanks for following along. We hope this info can be used to improve IVF procedures to increase success rates for women of all ages. Please like/RT. @eshre.bsky.social #eshrejc @bwfund.bsky.social @hhmi.org #reproductivehealth #reproductivehealth #devbiol

We stand on the shoulders of giants! Many other groups have looked at compaction metrics - like the extent of embryo "flattening" as a way to show viability. But we hoped that we could fill the gap as to whether compaction itself correlates with later implantation potential 💪

we heavily used the Spirochrome dyes for this paper!

A profuse thank you to all collaborators - Diana Laird, @pwoakes.bsky.social , and @ricardalert.bsky.social – whose hard work really elevated our findings. Thank you to Orion, who gave me incredible freedom to explore this new research in the lab.

And finally, can we rejuvenate embryos to restore developmental potential? We hope yes – by tuning embryonic contractility we may find the embryonic fountain of youth to improve fertility if this holds true for human embryos.

What this also suggests is something out of Willy Wonka – we can use early compaction metrics to find the good and bad embryos. Talk about an Eggdicator…

To summarize - we find that there is an optimal contractile regime for embryos to undergo proper development/implantation. Contractility shifts the proportion of optimal embryos in each maternal condition.