JBRA Assist. Reprod. 2010;14(3):13-13
EDITORIAL
doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.2010.14.3.01
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Professor Robert G. Edwards has built an outstanding career and now we are very proud of celebrating his 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine.
He achieved degree in Biology with major specialization in Zoology, and minor specialization in Botany. Subsequently he studied at the Institute of Animal Genetics and Embryology, at the faculty of Science at the University of Edinburgh. He received his Ph.D. in 1955 and joined the University of Cambridge in 1963.
In 1968 he was able to achieve fertilization of a human egg in the laboratory and started to collaborate with Patrick Steptoe. Edwards developed human culture media to allow the fertilization and early embryo culture, while Steptoe utilized laparoscopy to recover oocytes from patients with tubal infertility. Their attempts met significant hostility and opposition. The birth of Louise Brown in 1978 made medical history, leading to a new way to help infertile couples who formerly had no possibility of having a baby.
Steptoe died in 1988 and Edwards went on with these researches, keeping his attention on the development of ART. He has declared that he regrets not a single day spent on these biochemical pathways. Besides acting as Editor of Human Reproduction and, afterwards, RBMonline, he delights everyone who attends his up-to-date conferences, which contribute extensively to both bioethics and policy making aspects.
Thank you, Professor. To all of us working in the Reproductive areas, this Nobel Prize just confirms the recognition that we have been giving you on each of our working days..
So, please, receive the warmest greetings from Latin America. Congratulations!
Maria do Carmo Borges de Souza
Paulo Franco Taitson
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