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About My Egg Bank
In the mid 1990’s Reproductive Biology Associates recognized the potential clinical advantages that oocyte cryopreservation could bring to patients requiring the use of donated eggs. RBA’s initial egg freezing success came in 1997, when the practice reported the first births in the Western Hemisphere from frozen donor eggs. In 2000, after further refinement of the technique, RBA began to offer egg freezing as a means of preserving fertility in cancer patients facing fertility-threatening oncology treatment.
In 2007, the RBA scientific team achieved it’s most important egg freezing breakthrough to date based on scientific research initiated in 2004 to explore an alternative way of cryopreservation call “vitrification”. Utilizing this new rapid freezing technique with egg donors between ages 21-30, RBA achieved pregnancy rates equal to fresh donor cycles in traditional IVF centers around the world, as it was reported in Fertility and Sterility in 2008 (Nagy et al, FS, 2008), 17 of the 20 recipients achieved live birth using vitrified donor eggs. Later that same year, RBA created one of the world’s first independent, fully inventoried frozen donor egg banks.
Based on the success of its own egg bank, in 2010, RBA established My Egg Bank North America (MEB-NA), a network of high quality infertility centers providing frozen donor egg bank services to patients across the United States and Canada.
My Egg Bank Donor Qualifications
My Egg Bank donors are women of all ethnic origins, between the ages of 21 and 30, who are screened to ensure good general and reproductive health, a clear genetic history and psychological stability.
All My Egg Bank donors must meet our height/weight criteria to assure the medications used during the stimulation cycle work optimally. The criteria is based on the BMI index values.
My Egg Bank donors meet all screening guidelines required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).
All donors must pass a rigorous genetics work-up prior to being accepted into the egg bank.
This work-up includes a consult with a certified genetic counselor, during which an extensive personal and family history is elicited. The work-up also includes genetic testing for inherited genetic disease in compliance with recommended medical guidelines for egg donor screening.
The genetic diseases screened for is according to the donor’s ethnic background, and may differ between donors.
Therefore, if a donor is present in our egg bank, you can be assured that they have screened negative for the genetic diseases recommended for their ethnicity group. Please note that a negative test result greatly reduces, but does not eliminate, the possibility that the donor could be a carrier of said condition. You can also assume that there is no personal or family history of genetic disease that greatly increases the risk of serious genetic illness in the donor’s offspring, as compared with general population risk.
If you would like more detailed information about a specific donor’s genetic personal and family history, please see the genetics consult note.
All donors through Reproductive Biology Associates are screened using the Good Start panel.
Genetic Conditions Screened for RBA Egg Donors (Including all conditions recommended per ACOG and ACMG), 23 total
| • Alpha-thalassemia • Beta-thalassemia • Bloom's Syndrome • Canavan Disease • Cystic Fibrosis • Dihydrolipoamide Dehydrogenase Deficiency • Familial Dysautonomia • Familial Hyperinsulinism |
• Fanconi Anemia Group C • Fragile X Syndrome • Gaucher Disease • Glycogen Storage Disease Type 1a • Joubert Syndrome 2 • Maple Syrup Urine Disease • Mucolipidosis Type IV |
• Nemaline Myopathy • Niemann-Pick Disease Type A/B • Sickle Cell Disease • Spinal Muscular Atrophy • Tay-Sachs Disease • Usher Syndrome Type 1F • Usher Syndrome Type III • Walker-Warburg Syndrome |
Here is the list of the genetic tests that are included in the Counsyl panel:
Genetic Conditions Screened for Egg Donors (As recommended per ACOG and ACMG), 21 total
| • Cystic Fibrosis • Spinal Muscular Atrophy • Tay-Sachs Disease • Canavan Disease • Familial Dysautonomia • Gaucher Disease • Fanconi Anemia Type C • Mucolipidosis IV • Bloom Syndrome • Niemann-Pick Disease Type A • Beta Thalassemia |
• Sickle Cell Disease • ABCC8-Related Hyperinsulinism • Glycogen Storage Disease Type 1a • Maple Syrup Urine Disease Type 1b and 3 • Usher Syndrome Type 1F and 3 • Sickle Cell Disease • Hexosaminidase A Deficiency • Familial Mediterranean Fever • Nemaline Myopathy • Joubert Syndrome |
Additional Testing that may be completed according to ethnicity:
• Hb Profile (Asian, Mediterranean)
• CBC/MCV for Alpha-Thalassemia (Asian)
If you would like more detailed information about a specific donor’s genetic personal and family history, please see the genetics consult note.
