The need to conduct biomedical research in areas not funded by the federal government led to the incorporation of the Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation. The foundation's controversial Special Program of Assisted Reproduction has helped more than 300 couples with human immunodeficiency virus infection have healthy babies. Because of this success, more than 75 fertility centers throughout the country have implemented similar programs, allowing couples to seek care close to home. The techniques developed for the Special Program of Assisted Reproduction have been extended to other diseases of the male genitourinary tract, such as prostatitis and bladder infections. Expertise in human egg biology led Kiessling to develop the country's first human egg donor program for stem cell research in 2000. It remains a research focus today.