In 1983, researchers Alan Trounson and Linda Mohr published the article “Human Pregnancy Following Cryopreservation, Thawing and Transfer of an Eight-Cell Embryo,” hereafter “Human Pregnancy,” in the journal Nature. In the article, the authors describe an experiment that led to one of the world’s first pregnancies through cryopreservation, or freezing, of an eight-cell human embryo. They discuss an experiment conducted at the Monash University and Queen Victoria Medical Center in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to the article’s publication, scientists had reported on embryonic cryopreservation experiments with animals only. At the end of the article, the authors mention that the pregnancy ended in a spontaneous miscarriage due to problems unrelated to cryopreservation twenty-four weeks after embryonic transfer. Despite the miscarriage, “Human Pregnancy” is one of the first articles to describe a successful human pregnancy after cryopreservation, and demonstrated that cryopreservation, as part of in vitro fertilization treatment, was a viable option for humans as well.

Alan Osborne Trounson is a scientist from Australia who studies embryology and stem cells. His research has improved the success rates of in vitro fertilization, or IVF. IVF is a medical procedure in which scientists fertilize an egg cell with sperm outside of the body, often in a laboratory petri dish, then transfer the fertilized egg to a woman’s uterus to start pregnancy. Trounson also researched embryonic stem cells, or stem cells collected from embryos, and their potential for treating injuries and diseases. Additionally, Trounson led the Californian Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM, one of the largest agencies to fund stem cell research in California, from 2007 to 2014. Over the course of his career, Trounson developed several techniques that improved the effectiveness of IVF, including fertility treatments and cryopreservation, and supported stem cell research as a scientist and administrator.