About the Authors

Norbert Gleicher

ngleicher@thechr.com (NG); dbarad@thechr.com (DHB)

Affiliations Center for Human Reproduction (CHR) and Foundation for Reproductive Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America

Andrea Weghofer

Affiliations Center for Human Reproduction (CHR) and Foundation for Reproductive Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America, Department of Gynecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine, Vienna University School of Medicine, Vienna, Austria

Irene H. Lee

Affiliation Center for Human Reproduction (CHR) and Foundation for Reproductive Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America

David H. Barad

ngleicher@thechr.com (NG); dbarad@thechr.com (DHB)

Affiliations Center for Human Reproduction (CHR) and Foundation for Reproductive Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States of America

Competing Interests

NG is owner of CHR, a for-profit infertility center, where this research was conducted. NG and DHB are listed co-inventors on a number of pending, and one already awarded, U.S. patents claiming therapeutic benefits from DHEA supplementation in women with diminished ovarian reserve. Both are also co-inventors on a number of pending U.S. patents, claiming diagnostic relevance for the assessment of CGG triple repeats on the FMR1 gene in determining risk toward diminished ovarian reserve and related issues. NG, AW, and DHB have in the past received research support, travel funds, and speakers' honoraria from different pharma and medical device companies, none, however, in any way related to here presented research data. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors. Only one U.S. user patent has been awarded in regards to the submitted manuscript (November 10, 2009; # 7615544). This patent describes claims benefits from supplementation with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on ovarian function and pregnancy rates in women with diminished ovarian reserve. An additional claim, that DHEA reduces embryo aneuploidy in such patients, is still pending. Also still pending is a patent application which describes different genotypes of the FMR1 gene and claims that these different genotypes reflect different ovarian aging patterns. Consequently, they are, as a potential test, predictive of future ovarian aging. All patent applications filed by researchers at CHR are 50% "owned" by CHR and 50% by the investigators who did the research that led to the application.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: NG AW DHB. Performed the experiments: NG DHB. Analyzed the data: IL DHB . Wrote the paper: NG.