How Indiana-Based ReproHealth Technologies Could Revolutionize Cattle Reproduction with New IVF Device
In vitro fertilization (IVF) has been used in cattle for more than 40 years, but one doctor has developed new technology that could bring about major changes to the way that cattle are reproduced on the farm.
“We’re making devices to improve assisted reproduction in cattle. We’re basically improving in vitro fertilization as well as artificial insemination are we’re making the devices that improves sperm processing,” says Dr. Jim Donahue, Co-founder and CEO of ReproHealth Technologies. The company is based in Rensselaer in northwestern Indiana.
Hoosier Ag Today spoke with Donahue at the most recent QUADRANT event hosted by AgriNovus Indiana.
Donahue shared that he had previously worked as a human fertility doctor. In 2017, he was part of a team that performed Indiana’s first intravaginal embryo culture with an FDA-approved device that allowed embryos to grow in the device inside the patient rather than in an incubator in a lab.
“We did this device, and [the woman] made two beautiful embryos,” he says. “We put them in, and she had twins the following summer. I really thought, ‘Wow, what did we really do here?’ because we made a new type of incubator.”
That’s when Donahue teamed up with Dr. Michael Whitt, an Associate Professor of BioMedical Engineering with California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and veterinarian Dave Dixon to see if the new technology could work in cattle. The three came together to start ReproHealth Technologies.
The device, which is approximately 3 inches by 1.5 inches, which is attached to the Controlled Intravaginal Drug Released (CIDR) insert, which controls the cycle of the cow that secretes progesterone. The device piggybacks on the CIDR. The embryos are then grown inside the device while attached to the CIDR.
“I really think it’s all about genetics,” he says. “Producers know the best genetics and how can we get those better genetics because this technology allows you to make multiple offspring of the best cows, and so it’s really utilizing your best bull’s semen, which can be really expensive for some, as well as the embryos from your best milking cows.”
He says this technology is far better for bovine embryos because they don’t grow as well inside an incubator, simply because those are typically set at the same temperature between the time the embryos are created and they are inserted inside the animal.
“The device is at that cow’s temperature, which actually changes throughout the day. That’s why the process is more natural than creating the embryos in a lab,” says Donahue.
Learn more about Indiana-based ReproHealth Technologies at ReproHealthTech.com.
CLICK BELOW to hear Hoosier Ag Today’s radio news story featuring Dr. Jim Donahue, CEO and Co-founder of ReproHealth Technologies.
