Paul Devroey is a prominent Belgian researcher and professor specialized in human

fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

. He worked more than 30 years in the university hospital of the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Dutch language, Dutch, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated VUB) is a Dutch- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engine ...

, where he directed the Center for Reproductive Medicine. Together with André Van Steirteghem and other colleagues from the Center he developed the

Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI ) is an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure in which a single sperm cell is injected directly into the cytoplasm of an egg. This technique is used in order to prepare the gametes for the obtention of embr ...

(ICSI) technique, in which a single sperm is injected into an egg-cell. This technique is particularly useful in cases where infertility is caused by poor sperm production, thus solving most problems of

male infertility Male infertility refers to a sexually mature male's inability to impregnate a fertile female. Male infertility can wholly or partially account for 40% of infertility among couples who are trying to have children. "A problem with the male is the s ...

. His center also pioneered various other techniques that increase the chances of successful

in vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the ovulatory process, then removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) from ...

, such as

preimplantation genetic diagnosis Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD or PIGD) is the genetic profiling of embryos prior to implantation (as a form of embryo profiling), and sometimes even of oocytes prior to fertilization. PGD is considered in a similar fashion to prenatal ...

. After his retirement from the VUB in September 2012 Professor Devroey joined the team of IVF centre Jan Palfijn Hospital in Ghent, where he focuses on the most challenging cases of infertility. Paul Devroey (co-)authored over 440 international peer reviewe
articles
some of which have over 1000 citations, and three books. Over his career, he has received three national and four internationals research awards, including the IVI award 2007.

External links

* Fertility medicine Living people Belgian medical researchers Year of birth missing (living people) {{Belgium-scientist-stub