Test tube baby

In 1981, Dr. Kåre Molne applied for a professorship in Trondheim. In 2006, a child was born on a summer day in the Oppdal hospital. What ties these two events together?

One life.

Help for the childless
Mona Susanne Tetlie has lived her whole live in the media spotlight. That’s the way it is when you are Norway’s first test tube baby.

Mona was born in 1984. As a 21-year-old, she herself gave birth to her first child, when a little girl saw the light of day in a birthing centre in Oppdal. Unlike her mother, Mona was able to conceive naturally.

Mona was conceived, or more rather created, in a testtube in Trondheim. The backround behind this is that the then chief physician, Kåre Molne had applied for a professorship at the Department of Medicine at what was called at the time the University of Trondheim. The professorship was specially devoted to infertility. Molne, who is now retired, explains:

”I was attracted by the technological environment. If we were going to be able to treat infertility, there were a number of technological nuts to crack.”

Cracking the nut
In vitro fertilization – IVF – was being developed: An egg was taken out of a woman, fertilized outside of the body and then put back into the woman’s uterus. Today it’s a routine procedure. But when Mona’s mother underwent the treatment, it was “cutting edge science.” And it was possible because academics with vision worked across traditional disciplines and created something new.

One of the “nutcrackers” was engineering professor Bjørn Angelsen (http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/angelsen.html), who was a pioneer in ultrasound technology. Early in the 1980s he had worked with ultrasound measurements of blood flow in the heart. It was Sturla Eik-Nes, a gynecologist and professor at the university, who coupled ultrasound with fetal diagnostics.

Ultrasound was essential for plucking out healthy eggs that could be later transplanted into the woman’s uterus. Pretty soon, the technology developed at breakneck speed. Three-D ultrasound opened a new world for fetal diagnostics.

This all happened over the 1980s and 19990s. The Centre for Fetal Medicine was established in Trondheim at NTNU, with Professor Eik-Nes as leader. And the ultrasound technology gave rise to a high-tech company, Vingmed Sound, in Horton. IVF as a technology was further developed so even more people were helped.

Meanwhile, Mona celebrated her fifth birthday, her 10th birthday, was confirmed. Mona became an adult, she was certified as a plumber, she turned 21. She got pregnant.

The circle was complete.

News from the front
Where is the cutting edge research now?

The National Centre for 3D Ultrasound in Surgery is an internationally recognized research group with more than 10 years of experience in interdisciplinary research and development of low-impact treatments using ultrasound as a tool.

Vingmed Sound started industrial production in Horten, based on research from Trondheim. Today the company is co-located with the Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging at NTNU.

Kåre Molne is now 74 years old. Others have taken up his challenge. At NTNU's Ultrasound and MR research group, Professor Ingrid Gribbestad is using ultrasound to conduct research at a molecular level. It’s a meeting of new disciplines – molecular biology, medical technology and nanomedicine – that results in new kinds of research. And new ideas are born. First born.