Conceivable Life Sciences

2 years ago, Black Opal Ventures Ventures invested in Conceivable Life Sciences back when we were barely past the napkin stage of mapping out the AI, advanced optics, and robotic components needed to automate 90% of the manual steps performed in embryogenesis. 2 days ago, Black Opal’s founder Tara Bishop MD, MPH visited our R&D lab in Guadalajara. Tara dusted off her old lab skills by preparing IVF dishes following traditional manual protocols. 2 hours later, Tara watched Conceivable’s automated C:DISH workstation label, pipette growth media, verify volumes, and cover growth media with oil. All with no human intervention. 2 minutes later a robotic handler gently guided the dishes to an incubator. The demonstration showcased how an automated IVF lab is more precise, reduces risks, and will provide better outcomes for patients. We can’t wait to have Aike Ho Fred Destin & D.A. Wallach down to see our progress. Thank you Tara for taking 2 days out of your intense schedule. #IVF #IVFAutomation #biotechnology Alejandro Chavez-Badiola, MD, PhD ACME Capital Stride Ventures Time BioVentures

Exciting news for Conceivable Life Sciences and a big congratulations to CLS UK! We are incredibly honoured to share that we have been awarded the prestigious SMART grant from UK Research and Innovation (Innovate UK) for our automating vitrification project (2024-2026). It is a privilege to lead this initiative on behalf of Conceivable, and I'm excited about the impactful results our collective efforts will bring. 🔶 This £2 million project, co-funded by UKRI, will support our pioneering automation approach focused on vitrification and its clinical validation. 🔶 The program will drive cutting-edge developments in vitrification technology and automation to improve reproductive outcomes and access to care.   🔶 This project brings together a distinguished consortium of institutions, each with their unique expertise: ➡ Conceivable, led by Dr Stephanie Kuku, MD, Charles Kingsland and Giuseppe Silvestri, PhD, will focus on developing novel vitrification techniques.   ➡  King's College London and Christos Bergeles will support robotics and control improvements.    ➡ Care Fertility and Tom Bamford will provide clinical expertise and support translational research efforts. We're thrilled to embark on this collaborative journey to advance the field of fertility. A huge thank you to all partners and team members involved! #FertilityResearch #Vitrification #UKRI #ReproductiveMedicine

We've come a long way in terms of political leaders being willing to talk about how important IVF is in their lives. Michelle Obama made IVF a centerpiece of her mega best-selling memoir, having previously chosen not to speak about this part of her family's journey for over twenty years. IVF has become so powerful a uniting force—86% of Americans are in favor according to Gallup— that it's one of the few issues that bridges the country's great political schism. With examples such as Senator Tammy Duckworth, among the most liberal politicians in the country,  and former VP Mike Pence, among the most conservative, describing their support of IVF in personal, "lived experience" language. And now, in his introductory speech to the nation as a VP nominee, Governor Tim Walz has shared his personal infertility story on the campaign trail with Vice President Kamala Harris. Normalization and credibility for this Nobel Prize winning therapy is critical to making IVF accessible to the millions of people who want to achieve the dream of becoming parents. #IVFAutomation #IVF Conceivable Life Sciences

Four years after the birth of the first IVF child, the first commercial cell phone, affectionately known as "the Brick”, was introduced. In today’s dollars it cost more than $10,000, requiring every penny from seven months of work for anyone earning the minimum wage to buy. The phone took 10 hours to charge, boasted 30 minutes of talk time, and stored 30 numbers.  No surprise, in its first year of sales, only 7,000 were purchased. Fast forward to now: that “brick” has evolved to become a personal supercomputer, today accessible to more than 86% of the worldwide population. We live in a unique time in which the once impossible becomes routine. Through the deployment of technology, quality, scale, and price can simultaneously favor consumers. We know that utility in IVF is highly price elastic. A paper introduced to us by David Adamson, M.D. of the International Committee Monitoring Art (ICMART), demonstrates that for every 1 point increase in the price of ART depresses its utilization by 3.2%. So we need to stop talking about bringing the price per IVF baby down and actually do it. We desperately need the dynamic seen in the smartphone revolution to take hold in IVF, with new innovations focused on not adding expenses but lowering costs, improving outcomes, and helping IVF move beyond “concierge medicine for the rich” into a population health solution that’s widely available. When technology works, millions–sometimes billions–can access life-changing technology almost without regard to income. Conceivable’s mission is to make that “smart phone magic” happen in IVF. Currently only 5% of the world’s infertile couples can access care, largely due to the difficulty in scaling today’s expensive, manual, artisanal IVF labs.   Our end-to-end automation of the lab will improve results, lower cost, and allow IVF to scale to meet the true demand of 1 million+ babies a month. Just watch us. #IVFAutomation Eduardo Gonzalez