Clifford Lawrence Librach

Dr. Clifford Librach is the founder and Director of the CReATe Fertility Centre and CReATe Cord Blood Bank (Toronto, Ontario). He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Toronto, and holds cross-appointments with the Department of Physiology and Institute of Medical Sciences. Dr. Librach played an integral role in the establishment of the reproductive biology clinical and research programs at Women’s College Hospital in 1991, and since then has shown unparalleled leadership and commitment, and made significant contributions to current fertility practice in Canada.

He served as Division Head of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Women’s College Hospital for 23 years. Dr. Librach also served on the committees for development of standards for the Canadian Royal College REI fellowship and for development of CPSO standards for REI practice in Ontario. Dr. Librach has been the Chair of Ontario Medical Association Reproductive Biology since 2004. He co-founded the Canadian Fertility and Andrology (CFAS) IVF Improvement Committee in 2004 and has presented analysis of clinic specific data at the IVF directors meeting for the past 10 years.

Dr. Librach was also involved in development and reporting of the Canadian Reproductive Technologies Registry (CARTR) and more recently served on the committee for development of the Ontario BORN ART database. He has spoken to the government committee regarding the prioritization of funding for ART in Ontario, and presented at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health regarding the Assisted Human Reproduction Act. He has been interviewed extensively on ART-related topics in the national and international media. Dr. Librach is a leader in the field of obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive medicine research. Some of his major contributions include identifying the role of HLA-G in pregnancy and preeclampsia, uncovering important factors indicative of embryo quality, improving andrology diagnostic testing, and the isolation of a novel multipotent progenitor cell from umbilical cord perivascular tissue. Ongoing research interests are targeted at increasing our understanding of male and female infertility, third party reproduction, improving ART outcomes, predicting risk of preeclampsia, and advancing umbilical cord stem cell research applications. He has published over 60 peer-reviewed original publications, 3 book chapters and over 150 abstracts.

Recent Publications

Dar S, Lazer T, Swanson S, Silverman J, Wasser C, Moskovtsev S, Sojecki A, and Librach CL. Assisted reproduction involving Gestational Surrogacy: an analysis of the medical, psychosocial and legal issues. Experience from a large surrogacy program. Human Reproduction Update. 2014 Nov 25.

Kuznyetsov V, Moskovtsev S, Crowe M, Lulat A, Librach CL. Vitrification of a small number of spermatozoa in normozoospermic and severely oligozoospermic samples. Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine. 2014 Nov 21.

Quach K, Grover S, Kenigsberg S, Librach C. A Combination of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the 3’Untranslated Region of HLA-G is Associated with Preeclampsia. Human Immunology. 2014 Oct 9.

Aarabi M, Balakier H, Bashar S, Moskovtsev S, Sutovsky P, Librach C, Oko R. Sperm-derived WW domain-binding protein, PAWP, elicits calcium oscillations and oocyte activation in humans and mice. FASEB. 2014 Oct 3;28:4434-4440.

Lazer T, Dar S, Shlush E, Al Kudmani B, Quach K, Sharma P, Baratz A, Glass K, Librach C. Comparison of IVF Outcomes between Minimal Stimulation and High-Dose Stimulation for Patients with Poor Ovarian Reserve. International Journal of Reproductive Medicine. 2014 Oct 2;2014.

Aarabi M, Balakier H, Bashar S, Moskovtsev SI, Sutovsky P, Librach CL, Oko R. Sperm content of postacrosomal WW binding protein is related to fertilization outcomes in patients undergoing assisted reproductive technology. Fertility and Sterility. 2014 Aug;102(2):440-7.

Hong SH, Maghen L, Kenigsberg S, Teichert A, Rameloo A, Shlush K, Szaraz P, Pereira S, Lulat A, Xiao R, Yie S, Gauthier-Fisher A, Librach C. Ontogeny of Human Umbilical Cord Perivascular Cells: Molecular and Fate Potential Changes During Gestation. Stem Cells and Development. 2013 Sep 1;22(17):2425-2439.

Grover S, Shmorgun Z, Moskovtsev SI, Baratz A, Librach CL. Assisted reproduction in a cohort of same-sex male couples and single men. Reproductive Biomedicine Online. 2013 Aug 1;27(2):217-221.

Dar S, MD, Grover S, MSc, Moskovtsev SI, MD, PhD, Swanson S Msc, Baratz A MD and Librach CL, MD. IVF/ICSI outcome in Patients with a markedly high DNA fragmentation index (DFI>50%). Fertility and Sterility. 2013 Jul 1;100(1):75-80.

Behrouzi B, Kenigsberg S, Alladin N, Swanson S, Zicherman J, Hong S, Moskovtsev S, Librach C. Evaluation of potential protein biomarkers in patients with high sperm DNA damage. Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine. 2013 May 2;59(3):153-163.

Dar S, Librach CL, Gunby J, Bissonnette F, and Cowan L. Increased risk for preterm birth in singleton pregnancies after blastocyst vs. day 3 embryo transfer – Canadian ART Register (CARTR) analysis. Human Reproduction. 2013 Apr 1;28(4):924-928.

Balakier H, Xiao R, Zhao J, Zaver S, Dziak E, Szczepanska K, Opas M, Yie S, Librach C. Expression of survivin in human oocytes and preimplantation embryos. Fertility and Sterility. 2013 Feb;99(2):518-525.

Moskovtsev SI, Librach CL. Methods of sperm vitality assessment. Methods in molecular biology, Research Gate. 2013;927:13-19.

Dar S, Lazer T, Shah P, Librach C. Neonatal outcomes among singleton births after blastocyst versus cleavage stage embryo transfer: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Human Reproduction Update. 2013.

Firestone R, Esfandiari N, Moskovtsev SI, Burstein E, Videna GT, Librach C, Bentov Y, Casper RF. The Effects of Low-Level Laser Light Exposure on Sperm Motion Characteristics and DNA Damage. J Androl. 2012 Jul 14;33(3):469-473.

Grants

2015 Apr - 2017 Mar ~ Co-Principal Investigator. Changing the Paradigm for Male fertility Treatment - Standardized Automated Platform for Sperm Retrieval. AHSC. AFP Innovation foundation. PI: Lo K. Collaborator(s): Moskovtsev S, Gauthier-Fisher A.

2014 Oct - 2015 Mar ~ Co-Investigator. Nutritional programming of the paternal sperm epigenome: effects on offspring development and health. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (Bridge Funding). PI: Kimmons, Sarah. Collaborator(s): Dr. Sergey Moskovtsev; Dr. Weiler (Canada Research Chair in Nutrition, Development and Aging); Collaborators: Dr. Linda Dodds (Dalhousie University, Director, Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit; Dr. Pastinen (Canada Research Chair in Human Genomics). Principal investigator: Dr. Kimmins (McGill, Canada Research Chair in Reproduction Development and Epigenetics).

2012 Jul - 2017 Jun ~ Co-Investigator. PAWP, a candidate sperm-borne oocyte activating factor. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). 5 year operating grant. Collaborator(s): Dr. Richard Oko.