FEBRUARY 2014 | 21ST ISSUE

ESHRE IN THE FIELD

// ANNUAL MEETING

HIGHLIGHT OF THE MONTH

// ESHRE CERTIFICATION FOR NURSES AND MIDVIWES

// THE BEST OF ASRM AND ESHRE

Don’t miss the third edition of “The best of” meeting

World experts in reproductive medicine and biology are expected in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, for the third “Best of” meeting. Leaders from ASRM and ESHRE will present and discuss the latest innovations and technologies from both sides of the Atlantic.
More information about this joint meeting is available here.

// ESHRE CAMPUS

Fertility Preservation: from Technique to Implementation in Clinical Practice

Amsterdam, the Netherlands
14-15 March 2014

// ESHRE CAMPUS

Endoscopy in Reproductive

 Medicine

Leuven, Belgium
26-28 March 2014

// ESHRE CAMPUS

The impact of Reproductive Surgery on cross talk between the Embryo and the Endometrium

Vienna, Austria
11-12 April 2014

NEWS IN REPRODUCTIVE SCIENCE, MEDICINE AND RESEARCH

// NEWS IN REPRODUCTIVE SCIENCE

Japonese study on "stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency" cells

A Japanese study whose implications are described as "huge" suggests that pluripotent stem cells can be derived from adult cells without affecting their DNA. Instead, experimental cells (lymphocytes from mice) were exposed to a stressful environment, namely acid, after which some of the cells appeared reprogrammed to display evidence of a protein associated with pluripotent stem cells. The cells are described as "stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency", or STAP, cells. Once injected into mouse blastocysts, the STAP cells went on to form germ layers and eventually pups which incorporated the cells in every tissue.
Read more

// THE EUROPEAN CONNECTION

EU Research grants in 2014

The European Commission allocated a budget of €1.7 billon to support scientists in their research projects in 2014. Researchers can now apply for the grants which are part of the “Excellent Pillar” of the new EU research funding programme “Horizon 2020”. More information can be found here.

Resolution on sexual and reproductive health and rights rejected at the European Parliament

On 10 December 2013, the European Parliament rejected the own-initiative report about sexual and reproductive health and rights proposed by its Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and drafted by the Portuguese MEP Edite Estrela.
This “Estrela report” was a non-binding declaration of the European Parliament and requested - among other - that “fertility services should be provided within a non-discriminatory framework”. Read the report here.

ESHRE JOURNALS

// EDITORS’ HIGHLIGHTS

Editors-in-Chief of ESHRE’s journals have selected their highlights from the current issues.

Find out their selections and read their comments by clicking on the links below.

ESHRE INSIDER

// WHO IS BEHIND ESHRE?

Meet Titia

In January 2014 the ESHRE Central Office welcomed a new staff member: Titia Van Roy. Titia is not an unknown face within ESHRE. She explains: “I started work at Central Office in January 2012 as replacement for Catherine Plas, who was on maternity leave. I was then in charge of membership, CME credits and embryology certification.” Titia’s first Annual Meeting was in Istanbul and she left shortly afterwards. Titia came back as interim in January 2013 to take care of exhibitors’ registrations and help the administrative team in the busy pre-congress period. Titia left again soon after ESHRE’s Annual Meeting in London.
In January 2014 Titia returned again to Central Office but to work as permanent staff this time. “I will be on the front line from now on as I am now responsible for the individual registrations of the Annual Meeting. In the course of the year I will also be in charge of the CME credits and of the accreditation.” With more than 10.000 participants in London, Titia expects that the upcoming Annual Meeting will be challenging for her.
When asked what she likes so much about ESHRE, Titia explains that she enjoys the human side of the organisation, of its purpose and its people. On a personal level, Titia, who is trilingual (English-Dutch-French), also appreciates the international dimension of ESHRE and the contacts with people from different backgrounds. “It is definitely an added-value for the organisation. I think that all fertility doctors and scientists should be members of ESHRE because it is only in ESHRE that you can find the latest outlook on all topics linked to fertility.”
Titia will be happy to help you for any question related to your membership status and your registration to the Annual Meeting in Munich. You can contact here at titia@eshre.eu.