SPZ Lab’s Logo

In 2022, SPZ Lab got a new logo, which is an illustration of a zygote – the initial stage of the fertilised egg before it divides for the first time.

The traditional logo for ‘fertility’ is a sperm cell that is about to fertilise an egg. However, the latest research shows that the biggest challenge is not fertilisation at all, which means the traditional view is a bit ‘outdated’.

Unless the quality of the man’s sperm is extremely poor, the vast majority of eggs are fertilised. The big challenge does not emerge until after fertilisation has been completed.

Research shows that if you have zygotes from 100 completely normal couples (without fertility problems), only 40% to 60% of them will be able to develop into babies. In approximately half of the cases, the development of the zygote/embryo/foetus will come to a halt at some point (Jarvis 2020).

If the embryo dies before it can attach itself to the uterus, the pregnancy will not occur.

If it attaches itself to the uterus but subsequently dies, the couple will experience a spontaneous miscarriage.

The main reason why a large proportion of the fertilised eggs die is damage to the DNA, very little of which is inherited from the woman or the man. In fact, the vast majority of the damage is new and occurs during the maturation of the egg or the production of the sperm.

The damage can be divided into the following 3 main groups:

  • Incorrect number of chromosomes (aneuploidy), which mainly occurs in the eggs and especially in women who are over 35 to 40 years of age.
  • Smaller chromosomal errors are often caused by ‘fragmentation’ of the sperm DNA.
  • More than 90% of the new mutations are a result of damage to the sperm DNA.

The man, therefore, plays a decisive role in ensuring that the fertilised egg is viable.