Participating in a Clinical Research Study

Because the field of reproductive genetics is relatively new and historically understudied, there are many genes related to problems with fertility and reproduction that have not yet been discovered. When we cannot identify a genetic cause through clinically available genetic testing, which happens sometimes, we offer you the chance to find answers by enrolling in active clinical research studies. At Stanford Children’s, we are uniquely able to offer a wide variety of clinical research studies and clinical trials related to reproductive genetics, fertility, and reproductive health. Because the field is so new and advances rapidly, we frequently engage in ethical considerations of our treatments and research.

We have offered reproductive genetic studies related to the following conditions, with new studies continually emerging:

• Infertility.
• Recurrent pregnancy loss.
• Recurrent triploidy.
• Determinants of success in in vitro fertilization (IVF).
• Transfer of abnormal or mosaic (a mix of normal and abnormal cells) embryos by preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (a type of genetic testing during IVF).
• Carrier screening via genome sequencing (decoding your DNA).

We also offer a variety of other fertility and reproductive health clinical trials.

We have had many patients find answers and direction from participating in our studies. If your genetic testing with us does not identify an issue, and you are interested in learning more, our research genetic counselor will walk you through our available studies and their requirements.

Learn more about why you might consider participating in a study.

Published reproductive genetic research studies

Doctors on the Reproductive Genetics Clinic care team are avid researchers who make groundbreaking discoveries in reproductive genetics and are leading the nation in new knowledge and potential treatments. These are a few of our team’s recently published studies:

Healthy euploid dizygotic twin birth after transfer of nonmosaic aneuploid embryos. Fertility and Sterility Tise, C.G., Verma, K., Rivera-Cruz, G., Chamanara, S., Gerber, S.K., Boyd, A., Mazzoni, R., Nel-Themaat, L., Behr, B., Milk, A.A., Lathi, R.B. 2025

An Ethical Framework for the Transfer of Embryos Affected With a Known Monogenic Condition. Fertility and Sterility Chung, E.H., Lowe, C., Adelson, S., Mazzoni, R., Tise, C.G., Lathi, R.B. 2024

Molecular testing in newborn screening: VUS burden among true positives and secondary reproductive limitations via expanded carrier screening panels. Genetics in Medicine Cook, S., Dunn, E., Kornish, J., Calderwood, L., Campion, M., Cusmano-Ozog, K.P., Tise, C.G. 2024