Women In The News

OvaScience Secures $37 Million in Series B Financing

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 4, 2012 – OvaScience™, a fertility company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel treatments for infertility, today announced that it has completed a $37 million Series B financing. The financing was led by General Catalyst. Existing investors, Bessemer Venture Partners and Longwood Fund, were joined by new, top-tier investors BBT Capital Management Advisors, LLC, Cycad Group, Hunt BioVentures, RA Capital and a large, global institutional investor, among others. In conjunction with this financing, John Simon, managing director of General Catalyst, has joined the OvaScience board of directors. Leerink Swann LLC acted as lead placement agent for the offering.

OvaScience plans to use the proceeds from the financing to support the development and commercialization of its fertility treatment approaches based on the egg precursor cell discoveries of OvaScience co-founder Jonathan Tilly, Ph.D., director of the Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, chief of research for Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Vincent Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School (HMS). OvaScience holds an exclusive license from MGH to an issued U.S. patent and various patent applications related to Dr. Tilly’s egg precursor cell discoveries.

“Under the leadership of its world-class management and scientific teams, OvaScience has great potential to develop and commercialize new fertility treatment options for women,” said John Simon, managing director of General Catalyst. “OvaScience is rapidly advancing its patented fertility technology aimed at improving fertility outcomes, and we’re pleased to be part of a company that has a unique and differentiated approach in an area with a clear, unmet need.”

“OvaScience is focused on improving the success rates of fertility treatment options currently available for women,” said Michelle Dipp, M.D., Ph.D., chief executive officer of OvaScience. “As a result of this financing, the company expects to be able to advance its pipeline of fertility treatment approaches.”

About OvaScience

OvaScience is a privately-held fertility company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel treatments for infertility. OvaScience is working to improve the treatment of female infertility based on patented technology exclusively licensed from Massachusetts General Hospital. The company’s team of scientists, physicians and advisers are recognized leaders in the field of reproductive medicine. For more information, please visit the company’s website at http://www.ovascience.com.

Inspiration Of Hope

What is Hope?

Hope itself is a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords; but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain.  ~Samuel Johnson

Keep Hope Alive!!!!

Inspirational Word Of The Day Is, “Respect”

“Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else wants you to be different.”

A Message From The Creator

I want to thank everyone who is following LadyRomp!

Thank you for seeing the value in the words I have to offer.

The goal of LadyRomp is to continue to make a difference in the cause of empowering women. Hopefully, with  the help of people such as yourselves we will continue to see improvements in the equality of women in every aspect of life. So, thanks again for you continued support.

Kim Seabrooks

Inspirational Woman Of The Day

Homa Khaleeli

The Guardian, March 7, 2011

Article History

Margaret Atwood

Novelist behind The Handmaid’s Tale, a cautionary story of a world without feminism

Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale has been a relevation for millions of readers – offering a terrifying glimpse of a parallel future where biological determinism and misogyny are taken to their logical conclusions. It’s a cautionary tale of a world without feminism, and after the excesses of the Taliban’s regime in Afghanistan seems more prescient than ever. As Atwood, 61, said: “People would blithely say, ‘It couldn’t happen here,’ but this kind of thing can happen anywhere given the right kind of turmoil.”

Inspiration Of Motherhood

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.
— Washington Irving

Inspirational Of Style

The Color: 
Golden Child

Designers envisioned a gilded fall, rich with sequins, paillettes, and glittered sheen.

Elie Saab