WIDENLIFE · Project

Non-Invasive Diagnostics for Infertility, Endometriosis, and Prenatal Screening

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One in six couples struggles with infertility, and figuring out what's wrong often means invasive, uncomfortable procedures. This project brought together top universities from Estonia, the UK, and Belgium to develop and share better diagnostic tools — like blood tests that can spot endometriosis without surgery, or screen a baby's health during pregnancy from a simple blood draw. They also advanced genetic screening techniques used during IVF to help pick the healthiest embryos, and got these tools into actual clinical use at Tartu University Hospital.

By the numbers

1 in 6

Couples facing infertility

University partners across 3 countries

Total project deliverables produced

Demo deliverables including clinical-use technologies

The business problem

What needed solving

Infertility affects 1 in 6 couples, with female reproductive conditions like endometriosis often going undiagnosed for years because current tests require invasive surgery. Prenatal screening and embryo selection during IVF also rely on methods that could be more accurate and less invasive. Companies in the reproductive health space need validated, non-invasive diagnostic tools they can build into commercial products.

The solution

What was built

The project delivered four key clinical tools: NIPT (non-invasive prenatal testing) technology adopted and brought to clinical use at Tartu University Hospital, a validated non-invasive test for identifying endometriosis, and preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) implemented in clinical practice. These were validated across partner organizations in 3 countries.

Audience

Who needs this

Prenatal diagnostics kit manufacturersPrivate IVF and fertility clinic chainsWomen's health biotech startups developing non-invasive testsHospital laboratory equipment suppliers for reproductive medicineDigital health companies building fertility tracking and diagnostics platforms

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Reproductive Health Diagnostics

SME

Target: Companies developing or selling prenatal screening kits and laboratory tests

If you are a diagnostics company looking to expand your prenatal testing portfolio — this project delivered non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) technology that reached clinical use at a university hospital. The validated protocols and clinical workflows could accelerate your own product development or provide a licensing opportunity for NIPT assays targeting the 1 in 6 couples facing infertility.

IVF and Fertility Clinics

any

Target: Private fertility clinics and hospital IVF departments

If you run an IVF clinic and want to improve embryo selection success rates — this project brought preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) into clinical practice at Tartu University Hospital. The validated protocols and training materials from 3 partner universities across 3 countries could help your clinic adopt or refine PGS procedures, potentially improving pregnancy outcomes for your patients.

Women's Health Biotech

SME

Target: Biotech startups developing non-invasive tests for gynecological conditions

If you are a biotech company working on endometriosis diagnostics — this project developed and validated a non-invasive test for endometriosis identification across partner organizations in 3 countries. Endometriosis currently takes an average of 7-10 years to diagnose because it typically requires surgery. A validated non-invasive alternative represents a significant market opportunity you could build on.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to license or adopt these diagnostic technologies?

The project does not disclose licensing terms or cost data. Since this was a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) focused on knowledge transfer between 3 universities, commercial licensing would need to be negotiated directly with the University of Tartu as coordinator. No industry pricing benchmarks are available from the project data.

Can these tests scale to high-volume clinical or commercial use?

The NIPT technology and PGS reached clinical use at Tartu University Hospital, and the endometriosis test was validated across partner organizations in 3 countries. However, scaling beyond university hospital settings to commercial lab networks would require further industrialization and regulatory approval steps not covered by this project.

Who owns the intellectual property from this project?

As a CSA twinning project, the IP landscape is likely shared among the 3 university partners: University of Tartu, University of Oxford, and KU Leuven. Specific IP rights and licensing availability would need to be clarified with the consortium, particularly the coordinator at University of Tartu.

What regulatory approvals do these diagnostics have?

The deliverables describe clinical use of NIPT and PGS at Tartu University Hospital and validation of the endometriosis test at partner sites. However, no CE marking, FDA approval, or other regulatory certifications are mentioned in the project data. Clinical validation in a hospital setting is a necessary step but not equivalent to commercial regulatory clearance.

How long would it take to bring these to market?

The project ran from 2016 to 2018 and achieved clinical use during that period. Moving from validated university hospital use to a commercially available diagnostic product typically requires additional regulatory work, manufacturing scale-up, and clinical trials. Based on available project data, no commercial timeline was established.

Is there ongoing support or follow-up research?

The project ended in December 2018. The University of Tartu aimed to become a leading center for reproductive medicine in Eastern and Northern Europe. Whether follow-up projects or continued clinical programs exist would need to be verified directly with the coordinator.

Consortium

Who built it

This is a purely academic consortium of 3 universities from Estonia, Belgium, and the UK — with zero industry partners and zero SMEs. The University of Tartu coordinated, with Oxford and KU Leuven as world-class knowledge providers. For a business looking to commercialize these results, the absence of any industry player means there is no established path to market within the consortium. Any company interested would need to approach the universities directly to negotiate technology transfer or licensing. The strength is the clinical validation at a real hospital setting; the gap is the complete lack of commercial development infrastructure.

TARTU ULIKOOLCoordinator · EE
THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORDparticipant · UK
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVENparticipant · BE

How to reach the team

Contact the reproductive medicine group at University of Tartu (Estonia) — they coordinated the project and host the clinical implementations.

Order a report on this consortium See TARTU ULIKOOL profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

SciTransfer can connect you with the WIDENLIFE research team and help evaluate whether their validated diagnostic protocols fit your product development pipeline. We handle the introductions so you can focus on the science.

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