A virtual look at the world of in-vitro fertilization

How are babies made?

It can be a work of ART.

And you can see ART, or assisted reproduction technology, at work in the babymaking process on a new, online Web portal that features a clinician-oriented guided tour of how in-vitro fertilization is done in the laboratory.

Earlier this month, Bloomington, Ind.-based Cook Medical, a supplier of equipment and technology to the field of reproductive medicine, launched a Web portal for providers of reproductive health services.

The site includes a video tour of the entire IVF procedure “with guidance on how to optimize each step for improved pregnancy rates,” according to the company. The audio portion of the video is in English, but transcripts corresponding to the images are available in Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Spanish.

The walk-through of the procedures and processes of ovum collection, sperm injection, embryo culture and embryo transfer that take between four and six days in real time requires just 22 minutes on video, even with stops along the way for the on-screen narrator or the off-screen voice of a “lab technician” to provide guidance on techniques to optimize outcomes. The stops also provide the narrators with multiple opportunities to pitch the company’s IVF products to the viewer, an unabashed global marketing opportunity that the video uses to full advantage.

But according to Christina Anné, vice president of the company’s Women’s Health Strategic Business Unit, another goal of the tour is to raise the bar on assisted reproduction technology laboratory practices worldwide “by harnessing the dynamic power of the Internet to provide today’s infertility specialists with real-time access to the resources and information necessary to support patients and improve their practices.”

The site also provides a news and events section with postings of news media articles on reproductive health and a calendar of upcoming events in the IVF field, a knowledge center for posting of related scholarly journal articles, and an online forum for practitioners.

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