The Horizon Europe-funded GEMSTONE Project has reached an important milestone in advancing in-house capabilities for genetically engineered model organisms at Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar University (ACU). Researchers at ACU’s Experimental Animal Application and Research Centre (DEHAM) have successfully laid the groundwork for breeding and managing a transgenic mice colony – an essential step for accelerating neuroscience research and enabling the study of neurodevelopmental diseases.
To build this capacity, Dr. Samed Ozer and Asli Onder Gul from ACU-DEHAM completed a short-term visit to Lund University, where they received hands-on training in in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques from expert IVF technicians. This knowledge transfer directly supports GEMSTONE’s mission to strengthen ACU’s scientific and technological excellence through international collaboration.
As part of the dissemination of these results, Dr. Ozer attended the 6th National Congress on Laboratory Animal Science, held in Aksaray, Turkey, on 4-6 September 2025. He delivered an oral presentation titled: “Optimization of Superovulation, Embryo Collection, Embryo Laboratory, Culture Media and In Vitro Development Rate in Animal Experimental Facilities: Preliminary Study.”
The study aimed to optimize superovulation, embryo collection, laboratory conditions, culture environment, and in vitro development rates within ACU-DEHAM’s animal embryology laboratory. Using IVF protocols adapted during the training in Lund, the team successfully cultured embryos to the blastocyst stage under in-house laboratory conditions. Key findings included 51.43% of single-cell embryos progressing to the two-cell stage, and 61.11% of two-cell embryos successfully developing to the blastocyst stage.
These promising results demonstrate that the necessary infrastructure for IVF technology has now been established at ACU-DEHAM, paving the way for future studies and the sustainable production of transgenic mice in-house. “This is an important achievement for our team and for ACU’s research ecosystem,” said Dr. Ozer. “The ability to perform IVF procedures in our own facility will greatly enhance our capacity to generate and maintain transgenic models, which are indispensable for advancing neuroscience research.”