"Our Main Motivation is to Help Families with Fertility Issues; to Fulfill their Dream of Parenthood": Institut Marquès, Dr. Marisa López-Teijón CEO

“Institut Marquès carried out several studies on sperm quality and has an Andrology Unit specialized for male infertility.”

It is every couple's dream to become parents but the road to success is not that easy for all of them. But statistics show that one out of six couples experience the problem corresponding with. Infertility is affecting more than 80 million people around the world consisting primarily of young population accounting to around 10-15 percent having problems with the ability to conceive and give birth. For such couples, science has opened many avenues which could be strongly considered as a 'blessing in disguise’. One such treatment is In Vitro Fertilization or IVF as it is commonly referred to as. Assisted reproduction techniques have very quickly improved and many families have been able to achieve their dream of becoming parents.

Institut Marquès is one of the top moan integrated centers with a well-established, internationally-recognized reputation in the field of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Assisted Reproduction, accredited by the Spanish Healthcare Authority to perform all Assisted Reproduction techniques allowed by the current legislation. Every year, hundreds of patients visit Institut Marquès from abroad hoping to achieve a pregnancy, mainly through In Vitro Fertilization with egg and/or semen donation.

Institut Marquès is headquartered in Barcelona with additional offices located in the UK (London), Ireland (Dublin and Clane), and Italy (Rome and Milan).

The Provenance of Institut Marquès

With more than 95 years of history, Institut Marquès, the fourth generation of gynecologists of the Marquès family, continues to deliver stunning results. Nowadays, it has become an international reference for Assisted Reproduction. Leaders in excellence-based medical care, Institut Marquès treats patients from more than 50 countries. The center has a broad portfolio of services and obtains the best success rates, reaching 91 percent per cycle in In-Vitro-Fertilization treatments with donor egg. Moreover, Institut Marquès specializes in special hardship cases of patients with fertility issues (those who have previously undergone several cycles without success).

The center has the added value of being a reference in both the study of male infertility and in Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT). Institut Marquès has also its own sperm bank and a broad donation program of oocytes and embryos.

Furnishing Guaranteed Transparency through Technology

Institut Marquès keeps on devising the most advanced technology for reproductive medicine in order to achieve parents’ dream of having a baby. The center has developed Embryomobile, a pioneer application that allows parents to follow up on the evolution of their embryos online and in real-time. This is an example of transparency and quality that patients greatly appreciate.

Embryomobile also allows parents-to-be “access” the In-Vitro-Fertilization laboratory and watch their embryos live from home or anywhere else. Patients using Embryomobile have achieved better pregnancy rates, demonstrating the positive impact of emotions on the outcome of assisted reproduction treatments.

Specialists in Treating Male Infertility

It is estimated that the male factor (male infertility) is associated with more than 50 percent of cases of conjugal infertility, in 30 percent of cases, the male factor is the only responsible party, and in the remaining 20 percent, it appears combined with a female factor.

Keeping that in view, Institut Marquès carried out several studies on sperm quality and has an Andrology Unit specialized for male infertility. It conducts various researches on the relationship between environmental toxins and low male fertility. The "Male Fertility Unit" is one of the services that differentiate this clinic from its competitors.

Music: Forever Present at Institut Marquès

Listening to all kinds of music encourages early brain development in the fetus because music facilitates neuron connections in the brain. Institut Marquès is developing an important line of research about the effects of music at the beginning of life. In all its laboratories, the embryos are exposed 24/7 to musical micro-vibrations in the incubators, because it turned out that music increased the rate of in-vitro-fertilization by five percent. Other studies conducted by the firm have revealed that the fetus is able to hear from week 16th of pregnancy (when it measures 11 cm), only if the sound reaches it from the mother's vagina.

To carry out this clinical trial, it has created a special device (Babypod) that can emit music or voice from the interior of the vagina. The fetus responds to the sound with mouth and tongue movements. Babypod is the only device that allows the mother to communicate with her unborn baby. The device’s use during pregnancy has important medical applications such as discarding fetal deafness or facilitating ultrasound scans; because by stimulating the movement of the baby, the fetal structures are more clearly shown on the screen. These studies were awarded at Harvard University with the ‘Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine’ — the first awarded in the category of Obstetrics in the 27-year history of the award.

The Emboldening Initiative: Embryo Adoption Program

Institut Marquès launched this initiative in 2004. Embryos that are not transferred remain under the custody of the clinic when the parents do not want to decide on their destination. Therefore, the center decided to offer them in adoption to its patients. In accordance with the Spanish law, the embryos available under this program come from healthy parents, under the age of 35, who have successfully undergone an In-Vitro-Fertilization treatment and who no longer want to have more children. During the 15-year life of the program, in 2019 patients from 124 different nationalities attended the Institut Marquès' centers. It is one such clinic in the world where more embryo adoptions take place.

Dr. Marisa López-Teijón, CEO of Institut Marquès, explains: "The adoption of embryos was launched to give the embryos frozen in our center a possibility to live. From the beginning, the response has been exciting because of the social acceptance, the support offered by different groups and the enthusiasm with which women from all over the world come to us to adopt them. There are fewer international adoptions of children and more international adoptions of embryos. Behind each case, there is a special story, either of many failures in previous treatments or having given up the possibility of being parents."

The Ardent Visionary Behind the Triumph of Institut Marquès: Dr. Marisa López-Teijón

Dr. Marisa López-Teijón serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Institut Marquès. She appears among the top 10 percent of the most influential researchers in the world. Dr.López-Teijón is one of the most internationally recognized scientists in her specialty, awarded at Harvard University (USA) for her studies on fetal hearing and recently awarded as ‘Best Physician of the Year’ in Assisted Reproduction in Spain.

“Patients using Embryomobile have achieved better pregnancy rates, demonstrating the positive impact of emotions on the outcome of assisted reproduction treatments”