Truth in science: experimental design and the legacy of John D Biggers, PhD., DSc
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OPINION
Truth in science: experimental design and the legacy of John D Biggers, PhD., DSc Michael Charles Summers, MD, PhD 1,2 Received: 9 March 2020 / Accepted: 10 May 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The current article presents a brief historical perspective on Professor John D Biggers, PhD, DSc. who died on 7 April, 2018. His interests covered reproductive physiology, embryo culture, cryobiology, sperm preservation, statistics and experimental design, and the history and ethics of human reproductive biology. Emphasis is placed on John Biggers’ approach to the development of media for the culture of mammalian preimplantation embryos and to correct several minor misconceptions that have arisen in recent years regarding some of his studies. Much can be learned from his detailed approach to scientific investigation and experimental design. His scientific accomplishments and seminal contributions are important, but the tapestry of his life and legacy continue to be woven through the many students, fellows, and collaborators with whom he worked with over many years. The present article builds on a previous conversation that Michael Summers and Catherine Racowsky had with John Biggers that was published in 2008 [1]. Keywords Experimental design . Simplex optimisation . Embryo culture
Introduction “Numbers do not lie, but they have the propensity to tell the truth with intent to deceive. The human being is prone to seeing patterns and will often see patterns where only random noise exists.” Eric Temple Bell, American Mathematician, Numerolgy, 1933. On July 25, 1978 at 11:47 p.m., a baby girl, Louise Brown, was delivered by primary Caesarean section at Oldham General Hospital to a woman without functional fallopian tubes following fertilisation in vitro of an ovum from the patient by her husband’s sperm and replacement of the resultant embryo into her uterus. July 25, 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of the first “test tube” baby. I was kindly invited by Daniel Brison to speak on 40 years of human embryo culture media at a meeting organised by the * Michael Charles Summers, MD, PhD [email protected] 1
London Women’s Clinic, 1-8 St Thomas Street, London Bridge, London SE1 9RY, England, UK
2
School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NJ, England, UK
Society for Reproduction and Fertility to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the birth of Louise Brown entitled, ‘Edwards, Steptoe… and Dr Kershaw: an SRF symposium to mark the 40th anniversary of IVF.’ The meeting also provided an opportunity to reflect, albeit briefly, on some of the seminal contributions of Professor John D. Biggers who sadly died on 7 April 2018. I have therefore taken the opportunity to write a brief historical perspective on John’s approach to media development, among other things, and correct some minor misconceptions that have arisen over time regarding his work. The commentary builds on a conversation Catherine Racowsky and I had with John Biggers in 200
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