The magic of a new beginning: how an oocyte becomes an embryo
Precongress Course 2
Special Interest Group Embryology
Course coordinators
Susanna Apter (Finland), Giovanni Coticchio (Italy), Yves Guns (Belgium), Monica Marques (Portugal), Debbie Montjean (France), Sophie Debrock (Belgium), Ioannis Sfontouris (Greece), Roger Sturmey (United Kingdom), Leonie Van Den Hoven (The Netherlands)
Course type
Advanced
Course description
The course will consider the molecular, nuclear, biochemical and cellular changes that occur as an oocyte develops into an embryo. In particular, the programme will cover crucial aspects of oocyte-embryo transition, such as changes in cell design, regulation of meiosis and mitosis, maternal control and zygotic gene activation, energy in oocytes and embryos and mechanisms of self-correction as the blastocyst is formed.
Target audience
Clinical embryologists, biotechnologists and reproductive specialists
Educational needs and expected outcomes
Oocytes and embryos represent a continuum that, is finely co-ordinated to achieve preimplantation development. However, such dynamic development presents major challenges to cell regulatory mechanisms. Although the oocyte provides the majority of the buiding blocks required to design a fully developed blastocysts, the maternal cellular, metabolic and molecular legacies are subject to extensive rearrangements and regulation to respond to the embryo's evolving developmental needs. Further optimization of oocyte and embryo development in vitro depends on a deep understanding on such regulatory mechanisms, in order to maximize the chances of implantation and establishment of a full term pregnancy.
Programme
Sunday 23 June 2019
09:00 - 17:00
PCC02: The magic of a new beginning: How an oocyte becomes an embryo
Sunday 23 June 2019
09:00 - 17:00: PCC02: The magic of a new beginning: How an oocyte becomes an embryo:
Giovanni Coticchio, Italy
09:00 - 09:30
Dynamics design: oocyte polarity and asymmetric cell division
09:45 - 10:15
Sperm and oocyte contribution to successful fertilization
Ioannis Sfontouris, Greece
10:30 - 11:00
Coffee break
Roger Sturmey, United Kingdom
11:00 - 11:30
From meiosis to mitosis: changes in chromosome segregation machinery and cytoskeletal structure
11:45 - 12:15
Monospermic fertilization; one sperm is necessary, two are lethal
12:30 - 13:30
Lunch break
Susanna Jamina Apter, Sweden
13:30 - 14:00
From gamete to embryo – competence and pittfals
14:15 - 14:45
Does chromosomal and morphological self-correction exist in human embryo development?
Marcos Meseguer Escriva, Spain
15:00 - 15:30
Coffee break
Ioannis Sfontouris, Greece
Leonie Van Den Hoven, The Netherlands
15:30 - 16:00
Energy and mitochondria in oocytes and embryos
Roger Sturmey, United Kingdom
16:15 - 16:45
Blastocysts in 2019 – new insights into mechanisms of formation and function
Giovanni Coticchio, Italy