Where Art Meets ART: Creative Exploration of Fertility Research and Treatment

The most recent event from PET (the Progress Educational Trust) discussed the use of artworks to improve understanding and advance knowledge of the causes of infertility, and of future prospects for IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

The event was chaired by Sarah Norcross, director of PET, who introduced the audience to 'New Horizons in Fertility Research' – a collaborative creative project involving researchers from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Warwick.

Ten people involved in the project – including junior and senior researchers, a professional glass artist, a laboratory manager and a public engagement manager – presented various artworks, explaining how the works conveyed quite abstract ideas in very relatable ways.

The project sought to facilitate exploration of concepts and questions related to human egg and early embryo development, and the principal medium of the artworks was glass. These artworks are intended to invite the general public into the world of science, and facilitate discussions that include the voices and perspectives of patients.

Most of the speakers had created their own glass artworks, with each artwork representing a particular scientific process or procedure, or else representing structures or components observed within eggs or embryos. In this way, the artworks made by researchers each reflected the scientific speciality of their creator.

The first speaker was Professor Adèle Marston, director of the Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology. She highlighted the extent of errors that occur in early human egg and embryo development, and how these errors can impact upon success rates in fertility treatment.

Professor Marston presented the glass tile that she had created, entitled 'It Takes Two', which represents a very early-stage embryo exhibiting a polar body. The outlines of structures are raised from the surface, with different colours used to delineate different parts of the embryo. This results in a vibrant and tactile way of conveying the importance of research, to improve understanding of this critical and complex phase of development.

Next, Dr Sarah-Jane Judge, who is public engagement manager at the Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology provided the backstory of the 'New Horizons in Fertility Research' project. She explained how the beginning of this work coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, and how the creative process needed to respond accordingly.

Dr Judge explained that people involved in early egg and embryo research do not always work directly with patients, despite hoping that their work will ultimately bring direct benefits to people experiencing infertility or pregnancy loss. The artworks therefore created an opportunity to connect researchers with patients, serving as 'an object to get people talking'. She described how members of the public engaged with curiosity and interest with the artworks (and with some of the creators) when they were exhibited at this year's Fertility Show in London.

The third speaker, David Mola, is a glass artist who guided the others in the creation of their artworks, in addition creating his own pieces for the project. He discussed how the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, helped to inspire his contribution. For him, 'one idea dominated' his thoughts about the project – the idea of early development expressed in diverse natural forms.

Consequently, his three-dimensional, interactive, aquarium-like pieces – illuminated by motion sensors – feature glass representations of twigs and buds. Some of these twigs and buds are fully formed while others are not, evoking early embryonic life. This work, entitled 'The Inner Forest', represents the inner components of early eggs and embryos while also featuring representations of eggshells, thereby reflecting the fragility and complexity of human eggs. Mola explained that he incorporated motion sensors as an innovative solution to minimal touch recommendations during the pandemic.

Next, the audience heard from Lucy Munro, a PhD student and researcher at the University of Edinburgh. Her glass tile, entitled 'The Canvas of Life', depicts the intrinsically beautiful shapes and colours that she typically sees under her microscope. Munro explained that these artworks help to demonstrate the beauty of science, raising awareness and increasing connection between patients and scientists.

Also from the University of Edinburgh, postdoctoral fellow Dr Gerard Pieper used his art piece, entitled 'A Leap through Life', to demonstrate stages of a frog's life cycle. Dr Pieper uses frog eggs and embryos as a model to understand human embryonic development, and wanted to convey the juxtaposition of frog biology and human biology. He discussed the value of studying animals in parallel with humans, while acknowledging the preciousness of human eggs and embryos that have been donated to research.

Moving on to the project participants from the University of Warwick, Dr Muriel Erent, a laboratory manager at Warwick Medical School, presented a glass tile entitled 'Genetic Mosaic: Gene Transfer Through Generations' which showed chromosome segregation. She argued that art provides an alternative language, that can help people without a scientific background to engage with science, and that explaining science through art can bring to life things that might otherwise be invisible.

Aleksandra Byrska, a PhD student at Warwick Medical School, presented a tile entitled 'The Journey of Life Unfolding' that used mosaic work (in the artistic sense) to open up conversations around mosaicism (in the genetic sense). She explained that genetic mosaicism seems to be much more common in early embryos than was previously thought.

Postdoctoral researcher Dr Cerys Currie, also from Warwick Medical School, presented a mixed media tile entitled 'The Tale of Oocyte Development'. She embedded copper wire between layers of glass, to represent micromanipulation of a human egg involving a penetrating needle. This artwork breathed new life into an image that has become widely used in press coverage of stories relating to IVF, reframing the image with regard to the preciousness of human eggs and embryos in a research context.

Professor Geraldine Hartshorne, scientific director at the Coventry Centre for Reproductive Medicine, gave a presentation addressing the scarcity and value of human eggs and embryos donated to research (see BioNews 1219 and 1220). Her presentation appealed to patients and professionals to consider helping with donation to research, and discussed ways of improving donation such as facilitating the donation of unused frozen eggs, and establishing a centralised tissue bank for research embryos and gametes (see BioNews 1243).

Because Professor Hartshorne's presentation had to be prerecorded, her artwork – which is entitled 'Breaking Free', and depicts a human blastocyst hatching shortly prior to implantation in the womb – was displayed to the audience by Dr Judge.

The final speaker, Robyn Kerr, read a poem she had contributed to the project entitled 'Mother in Waiting'. This poem, which has been published as part of the book Northern Writes, eloquently expresses the longing to be a parent.

The full collection of the works created for the 'New Horizons in Fertility Research' project has resulted in two (largely) identical sets of tiles and two 'Inner Forest' pieces by Mola, with the universities of Edinburgh and Warwick each holding a set.

Audience comments and questions then followed, with one contributor observing that phrase 'in vitro' in the acronym IVF literally means 'in glass', emphasising the relevance of these glass artworks to a fertility laboratory setting. Speakers then remarked on another resonance – the large quantity of glassware in their laboratories means that glass already holds a central place in the research world.

Three main themes emerged during the event – the importance of further research into critical phases of early embryo development, the invaluable role of donated human eggs and embryos in enabling this work, and the importance of including patients and the wider public in dialogue about this area. Art can open up lines of communication in all directions, between researchers, clinicians, artists, patients and the public.

The discussion closed with another poem from Robyn Kerr, entitled 'Hope', which offered a poignant reminder that sometimes hope is all that fertility patients have. The event shone a powerful light on areas of research that enabled the invention of IVF in the first place, and have continued to make advances ever since. The range of perspectives was broad, the flow of presentations was cohesive, and there were many contributions from the audience.

PET is grateful to New Horizons in Fertility Research (a project based at the University of Edinburgh's Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology and at the University of Warwick, supported by a ScotPEN Wellcome Engagement Award) for supporting this event.