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Baby Love: the Newcastle fertility story

Special ticketed free event
Adults (18+)
Thursday 16 October 2025, 6:30pm - 8:45pm

6000 babies have been born as a result of treatment at NHS Newcastle Fertility Centre, which has been a cornerstone of the Life story since the very beginning. It has been responsible for some world firsts and global headlines, most recently in July 2025, the Newcastle team announced that 8 babies, all at risk of mitochondrial disease had been born disease free.   

Beyond the headlines are countless personal stories of people whose lives have been transformed. 

The event will take place in the science centre underneath the luminous planet Earth – Luke Jerram’s stunning Gaia artwork. Fittingly, Gaia is regarded as the Mother Goddess. Before the discussion, visitors are welcome to enjoy some hands-on activities and visit the exhibition The Story of Life. 

And have a celebratory drink on us! 

Terms and conditions

Life concludes its 25th birthday celebrations with this very special - and free - event.

Running order

6:30pm
Doors open. Grab a free drink! Before the discussion, there’ll be an opportunity to get hands-on with activities. There will also be an opportunity to see our new exhibition, Story of Life.
Activities include:
Swab your cheeks to examine cells under a microscope and compare them to sperm and egg cells.
Take on the challenge of counting sperm cells – how close can you get? (A take on ‘how many sweets in the jar?’, but with sperm!)
Take on the role of embryologist and hone your pipetting skills.
7:30pm
Discussion starts.
8:45pm
Event ends.
This is an after-hours event so the science centre will be closed to the general public. Tickets are capped at 4 per order.
Buy tickets

During this informal panel discussion, topics will include:

Why Life became the hub for fertility treatment in the city at the turn of the millennium and the people who made it happen

The barriers the centre faced - from legal obstacles to public opinion - and how they overcame them

The big breakthroughs that have changed lives

Emerging technologies and potential breakthroughs that could change fertility treatment in future

Meet our panel

Professor Alison Murdoch

Founder of the NHS Fertility Centre at Life

Louise Hislop.

Dr Louise Hyslop

Louise is a Consultant Embryologist at Newcastle Fertility Centre and is also an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University.  She leads the clinical embryology laboratory and is named on the clinic HFEA licence as a Mitochondrial Donation Practitioner.  She has a long-standing research interest in developing treatments to reduce the risk of women passing on mitochondrial DNA disease to their children.

Kevin McEleny

Mr Kevin McEleny

Kevin trained as a Urologist in the North East on England, before setting up a Supra-Regional Andrology service, treating couples from across the UK who are affected by severe male factor problems. Working closely with his Reproductive Medicine colleagues, Kevin has introduced a number of microsurgical sperm retrieval procedures (MicroTESE, MESA) to Newcastle and elsewhere; and offers other novel procedures for conditions like chronic orchalgia.

He is currently the BFS Chair and before this, was BFS Secretary after serving as the British Fertility Society’s Chair of Training, setting up the BFS’s Male Fertility training program, the Mentorship Program and STEM program for school students. His research interests include, the genetics of male fertility and psycho-social aspects of male infertility.

Getting here

Life is located in Times Square, just a two minute walk from Newcastle Central train and Metro station.

Driving? Times Square Car Park is just around the corner. The sat nav reference for the car park is NE1 4AD (opposite Jurys Inn hotel). Look out for Centre for Life and/or Times Square Car Park signage to direct you.

Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4EP
0191 243 8210
info@life.org.uk