Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40645954›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

A foundational model for in vitro fertilization trained on 18 million time-lapse images.

Suraj Rajendran, Eeshaan Rehani, William Phu, Qiansheng Zhan, Jonas E Malmsten, Marcos Meseguer, Kathleen A Miller, Zev Rosenwaks, Olivier Elemento, Nikica Zaninovic and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Suraj RajendranInstitute for Computational Biomedicine, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8149-0157
Eeshaan RehaniInstitute for Computational Biomedicine, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4225-3121
William PhuInstitute for Computational Biomedicine, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.
Qiansheng ZhanThe Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7130-7606
Jonas E MalmstenThe Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6740-6548
Marcos MeseguerIVIRMA Global Research Alliance, IVIRMA Valencia, Plaza de la Policía Local 3, 46015, Valencia, Spain.
Kathleen A MillerIVF Florida Reproductive Associates, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0352-470X
Zev RosenwaksThe Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Olivier ElementoInstitute for Computational Biomedicine, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8061-9617
Nikica ZaninovicThe Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Iman HajirasoulihaInstitute for Computational Biomedicine, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA. imh2003@med.cornell.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0600-3371

Funding

Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Computational Biology & MedicineT32GM132083 · NIGMS · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · PI Doron Betel, Iman Hajirasouliha · 2020 to 2026
$3.6M
Improving Metagenomic Analysis with Novel Algorithms and TechnologiesR35GM138152 · NIGMS · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · PI Iman Hajirasouliha · 2020 to 2026
$2.5M
National Science Foundation (NSF) 1000331235NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM132083U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) R35GM138152
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Embryo assessment in in vitro fertilization (IVF) involves multiple tasks-including ploidy prediction, quality scoring, component segmentation, embryo identification, and timing of developmental milestones. Existing methods address these tasks individually, leading to inefficiencies due to high costs and lack of standardization. Here, we introduce FEMI (Foundational IVF Model for Imaging), a foundation model trained on approximately 18 million time-lapse embryo images. We evaluate FEMI on ploidy prediction, blastocyst quality scoring, embryo component segmentation, embryo witnessing, blastulation time prediction, and stage prediction. FEMI attains area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) >  0.75 for ploidy prediction using only image data-significantly outpacing benchmark models. It has higher accuracy than both traditional and deep-learning approaches for overall blastocyst quality and its subcomponents. Moreover, FEMI has strong performance in embryo witnessing, blastulation-time, and stage prediction. Our results demonstrate that FEMI can leverage large-scale, unlabelled data to improve predictive accuracy in several embryology-related tasks in IVF.

Indexed as

Fertilization in VitroTime-Lapse ImagingBlastocystDeep LearningEmbryonic DevelopmentFemaleHumansPloidiesROC Curve

Identifiers

PMID40645954
PMCPMC12254344

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.