Aurora Test for ICSI

If you’re having trouble becoming pregnant, in vitro fertilisation (IVF) using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) may be the right choice for you and so might the Aurora Test.

An IVF cycle involves several different steps that will help you increase your chances of becoming pregnant with the most important step — selecting the best embryo with the highest potential resulting in a birth of a healthy baby.

The Aurora Test is an innovative, non-invasive molecular test which analyses the cells surrounding the egg (also known as oocyte). These cells, called cumulus cells, are normally removed during ICSI treatment and by analysing these discarded cells, we can predict which eggs will give you the highest chance of having a baby.

improving your chances with aurora test at first attempt

With the Aurora Test, you’re likely to get pregnant faster, saving time, cost, and emotional stress compared to routine visual embryo evaluation.

Aurora Test for eggs freezing

More and more women are postponing their decision to become a parent, driven by a variety of factors. In recent years, women finally got the option to freeze their eggs in order to preserve fertility and provide the freedom to decide when they want to start a family.

If you decide to freeze your eggs, you may need to undergo a series hormonal stimulations for the purpose of maximizing the number of eggs retrieved. The Aurora Test will score your eggs after the first hormone treatment and will give you insights into the quality of your eggs.

These results can be applied in the future to help the embryologist deciding which embryo to transfer when you are ready to become a parent. This scoring could avoid multiple cycles of embryo transfer. Read more →

Not all oocytes are equal… but now you can tell which ones will thrive

The Aurora Test is the first clinically proven, non-invasive test that looks at what truly matters: the oocyte’s biological potential itself. By analysing the cumulus cells that naturally surround and support the egg, Aurora Test decodes the molecular signals of highest potential. Unlike imaging or culture-based assessments, it doesn’t guess — it measures. Unlike invasive genetic testing, it causes no harm. And unlike many emerging tools, it is already validated in clinical practice, where it has significantly increased pregnancy and live birth rates on the very first transfer.

The Aurora Test accuracy for a live birth for patients stimulated with

Results of our studies

Increased live birth rate and clinical pregnancy rate for SET

Results of our latest prospective interventional study showed that in the Aurora Test arm with single embryo transfer (SET) on day 3, the clinical pregnancy rate increased significantly from 27 % to 63 % in the first fresh transfer cycle. Compared to day 5 SET — from 43 % to 63 %. Moreover, significantly increased live birth rate was detected between day 3 transfers. These were ICSI patients stimulated with HP-hMG. In the control arms patients had morphological scoring only. Read more …

Increased cumulative pregnancy rate

In an earlier clinical study cumulative rates were followed up and the Aurora Test also significantly increased the cumulative pregnancy rate from 56% to 78% in comparison to the day 3 control group when the patient underwent consecutive cycles. Read more …

Increased pregnancy rate at a first try and shorter time-to-pregnancy rate

The Aurora Test is performed on cumulus cells surrounding the oocytes of a patient and it is based on the measurement of the expression of specific genes. Cumulus cells are individually removed from each oocyte and RNA is extracted from the cumulus cells. Real-time PCR is performed for predictive genes and two control genes that leads to a quantitative ranking for all oocytes. Find out more about the science behind

Aurora Test service offered

If a frozen eSET is scheduled, the samples can be shipped later but must arrive at Fertiga’s clinical testing lab at least a week before the transfer.

In case there is no pregnancy from the first transfer, the supernumerary embryos which were vitrified individually will also be transferred following the Aurora score.

Our research

1. Van Vaerenbergh I, Adriaenssens T, Coucke W, Van Landuyt L, Verheyen G, De Brucker M, Camus M, Platteau P, De Vos M, Van Hecke E, Rosenthal A, Smitz J. Improved clinical outcomes after non-invasive oocyte selection and Day 3 eSET in ICSI patients. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2021;19(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s12958-021-00704-5
2. Adriaenssens T, Van Vaerenbergh I, Coucke W, Segers I, Verheyen G, Anckaert E, De Vos M, Smitz J. Cumulus-corona gene expression analysis combined with morphological embryo scoring in single embryo transfer cycles increases live birth after fresh transfer and decreases time to pregnancy. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2019;36(3):433-443. doi: 10.1007/s10815-018-01398-2.
3. Wathlet S, Adriaenssens T, Segers I, Verheyen G, Van Landuyt L, Coucke W, Devroey P, Smitz J. Pregnancy prediction in single embryo transfer cycles after ICSI using QPCR: validation in oocytes from the same cohort. PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e54226. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054226.
4. Wathlet S, Adriaenssens T, Segers I, Verheyen G, Janssens R, Coucke W, Devroey P, Smitz J. New candidate genes to predict pregnancy outcome in single embryo transfer cycles when using cumulus cell gene expression. Fertil Steril. 2012;98(2):432-9.e1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2012.05.007.
5. Wathlet S, Adriaenssens T, Segers I, Verheyen G, Van de Velde H, Coucke W, Ron El R, Devroey P, Smitz J. Cumulus cell gene expression predicts better cleavage-stage embryo or blastocyst development and pregnancy for ICSI patients. Hum Reprod. 2011;26(5):1035-51. doi: 10.1093/humrep/der036.
6. Adriaenssens T, Segers I, Wathlet S, Smitz J. The cumulus cell gene expression profile of oocytes with different nuclear maturity and potential for blastocyst formation. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2011;28(1):31-40. doi: 10.1007/s10815-010-9481-9.
7. Adriaenssens T, Wathlet S, Segers I, Verheyen G, De Vos A, Van der Elst J, Coucke W, Devroey P, Smitz J. Cumulus cell gene expression is associated with oocyte developmental quality and influenced by patient and treatment characteristics. Hum Reprod. 2010;25(5):1259-70. doi: 10.1093/humrep/deq049.

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“We tried to have a baby for more than one year and we hoped this was our solution. Quickly I realized that the many doctor visits and hormones brought a lot of emotional stress and pressure on my partner and on my job. I learned about the Aurora Test, a safe test that could help me get pregnant faster. No doubt, we immediately agreed to get it. I had 7 oocytes resulting in 4 viable embryos. The test allowed the embryologist to transfer the best embryo. And guess what, I was pregnant after my first transfer!”

–  Jennifer, 30 years

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“We had one baby after IVF and were dreaming about our second one. We were still considering when a friend told us about the Aurora Test. It would increase our chances as the best embryo could be chosen from the best-scoring egg. It appealed to us and we decided to go for it. I had 12 oocytes and 7 viable embryos. We were so happy that the Aurora Test could help the embryologist in his decision and got it right from the first transfer.”

– Sarah, 34 years

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“I wished to have a child, but I definitely underestimated how hard the process would be. And it wasn’t cheap either. The stress, the money, the many discussions. When the doctor told us about the Aurora Test, I convinced my wife to get it. She is very anti-genetic testing and is scared about all new technologies. However, the Aurora Test does not touch the embryo. It is not a genetic test and is safe. It helped us to get pregnant faster and saved us a lot of money. Thank you Fertiga for making our dreams come true.”

– Eric, 32 years

Read more about the Aurora Test

Disclaimer:

Names and images featured in “Success stories” are representative and have been changed to protect patient privacy. 

Fertiga, a pioneering biotech spin-off from UZ Brussel and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), is transforming assisted reproduction. Leveraging cutting-edge research, Fertiga introduces the Aurora Test, a non-invasive diagnostic tool that enhances IVF success by accurately identifying the most viable oocytes.

Our motto is one try, one child.

Our mission

We aim to make fertility treatments more effective, more accessible and less burdensome. Our goal is to help as many women as possible to achieve pregnancy on the first attempt.

Our values

• Make a difference – advancing fertility treatment through science and innovation.

• Empower patient success – continuously improving outcomes by close monitoring of performance.

• Solve meaningful problems – tackling physical, financial, end emotional challenges with creativity, teamwork, and resilience.

Meet our team

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