Tyho-Galileo
Research Laboratories is an organization created by specialists in reproductive science and molecular genetics. In
founding the Tyho-Galileo laboratories, these individuals have joined
together to stimulate progress in medical research, particularly in
the areas of reproductive medicine, gametogenesis, human
pre-implantation embryology and genetics. The research that
Tyho-Galileo
promotes will enhance the understanding of human reproduction and
the origin of human disease and facilitate development of treatment
modalities that can lead to the eradication of infertility and
certain genetic diseases.
The advancement of assisted reproductive technology (ART), including
preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) not only benefits the
treatment of infertility and genetic disease. This research also
shows great promise in elucidating fundamental aspects of biology
with much wider clinical and scientific significance. Since
government funding, and philanthropic and other support for research
in these areas is limited, Tyho-Galileo serves as a particularly
important source of financial and scientific support for these
efforts.
Tyho-Galileo operates a number of research laboratories and supports
affiliated Tyho-Galileo Centers worldwide working towards the common
goals of achieving excellence, promoting the exchange of
information, advancing reproductive science and assisting infertile
patients. Tyho-Galileo strives to attract outstanding scientists and
provide support wherever it can to clinical teams in order to
optimize performance and introduce new cutting edge technology.
Galileo’s story is not just that of an historical
figure, whose seventeenth century collision with Catholic
doctrine defined the division between science and religion.
Science is still caught in this struggle, maybe not so much in
the arena of studying celestial objects but in other corners of
the experimental universe where Galileo took a peek as well
through his first compound microscope. The science of biology
was still in its infancy and few seemed to have realized at the
time that wonders and controversies were to be found in worlds
both infinitesimally small and large. This four hundred year old
story gives the impression of Galileo as a rebel, a renegade who
wanted to prove that a much older but revered document did not
tell all that was to be known in philosophy. The insidious and
disruptive power of Galileo’s rebellion is perhaps still untamed
among modern scientists.
The fundamental rift between organized religion
and science since Galileo’s days has recently taken on a more
stealthy form, often being disguised in the form of government
policy and laws prohibiting the study of fundamental biological
phenomena. This is particularly evident in the area of
pre-implantation embryology, where fertilization is still
equated with a gift of the divine and embryonic cellular life
still considered special enough to warrant religious
considerations. In apparently perfectly modern countries such as
France and Germany, the study of human embryos is prohibited,
and at least in theory, punishable as a crime. In the USA, such
policies may seem softer but are equally forbidding as there is
deep-seated opposition to progress in the area of reproduction
and genetics. US policies obstruct any attempt to make
government funds available for the study of clinical embryology.
This has been the harsh verdict of governments for nearly a
quarter of a century. In this environment, assisted
reproduction in North America has advanced mainly through direct
human experimentation during the clinical process rather than
through pre-clinical studies of embryos.
Though the US government does not outlaw private
funding, it is estimated that the infertility industry spends
less than 1% of its gross revenues on actually studying the
processes of fertilization and embryonic development. Most
recently, managed care laws are driving this funding ratio in a
seemingly uncontrollable downward spin. Research funding is now
caught in a vicious circle of government prohibition, private or
semi-private subsidy of clinical work and the endeavor of
patients to have excellent care but not pay for it.
Tyho-Galileo Laboratories has been created to address the
widening schism between clinical revenue and the funding of
vital assisted reproduction research. Galileo’s aim is to reduce
the research overhead to individual clinics by diffusing the
direct costs and focusing research efforts on joint projects.
We urge both patients and practitioners to take this effort
seriously and to support us and others who are attempting to
understand reproductive failure, the origin of genetic disease
and the instigation of studies to bolster embryonic cell
differentiation and alleviate disease.
