E m b r y o T r a n s f e r N e w s l e t t e r1

Volume 23, Number 4 December 2005

Embryo Transfer NewsletterMatthew B. Wheeler, Editor

e-mail: mbwheele@ux6.cso.uiuc.edu

Vol. 23, No. 4 December 2005ISSN 1083-4699

Published quarterly by theInternational Embryo Transfer Society

1111 North Dunlap AvenueSavoy, IL 61874 USA

(217) 398-4697, FAX: (217) 398-4119E-mail: iets@assochq.org

Web Site: http://www.iets.orgLetters to the Editor are welcomed. Lettersmust be signed and limited to 300 wordsand are subject to editing for length, style,and accuracy. Please include name,address, telephone, FAX, and E-mailcontact information.

In this issue... From the President

Embryo Transfer NewsletterA Publication of the

International Embryo Transfer Society

From the President .................... 1Election Results ......................... 2Feature Article ........................... 4Classified Ads ........................... 10Data Retrieval Report .............. 112006 Annual Conference

Main Program .................... 182006 Poster Guidelines ..... 22Pet Cloning Symp. ............. 23PreConference Symp 1 ...... 24PreConference Symp 2 ...... 25Writer’s Workshop ............. 26PostConference Symp ........ 27PostConference Tours ....... 28

Dear Colleagues,

As I sit here in the snow my mind has wandered to warmer climates. TheHolidays are drawing near and our annual meeting in Orlando, Florida is only afew weeks away. It is a time to reflect back on the year and it is hard tobelieve that my time as your President is drawing to a close.

As you have seen in all my previous letters, the past year has brought achange in FASS leadership, the development of a Cloning Database and asurvey on the Annual Meetings Proceedings. Since, the Board of Governorshave spent a large amount of time working towards improving the economicsituation of our society over the past few years, I am happy to report that theIETS is in a sound fiscal situation. The BOG will continue to make every effortpossible to insure the financial viability of our society for many years to come.We however, need to improve our success at fundraising in order to supportthe robust educational activities of the IETS Foundation, the annual conferenceand future educational activities of the Society.

The Annual Conference is just around the corner so be sure that you havemade your travel plans, registration and hotel room arrangements. With thelarge number of abstracts and venue of Orlando this year, we are expecting alarge number of delegates. As you have seen in the September Newsletter andon the website, the scientific program that Ina Dobrinski and Richard Fayer-Hosken as well as the social program that Pete Hansen and the Local Organiz-ing Committee have put together, are very exciting.

Three hundred and eighty-two abstracts with first-rate cutting edge re-search were accepted and will be presented during the poster sessions. Thereal strength of our society is our members and that depends on your participa-tion. We look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

Aside from the extraordinary scientific program, we have two very deserv-ing candidates for the Pioneer and Distinguished service awards. Please takethe opportunity to thank Victor Shille recipient of the 2006 IETS DistinguishService Award, for his dedication and important contributions to our Societyover the years. Vic is one of the individuals that really raised the visibility of oursociety by agreeing to publish our proceedings in Theriogenology when the

December 20052

Election ResultsThe results are in from the Govenor and Vice President election that was recently done electronicallythrough the IETS website. The new elected Vice-President is Naida Loskutoff (USA) and the twonewly elected Governors are Peter Farin (USA) and Christine Wrenzycki (Germany). These three willtake office after the Business Meeting at the Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida in January 2006. TheBoard would like to thank all of the candidates for their willingness to participate in the election. The Boardwould also like to thank the membership for so willingly embracing new technology and new proceedures.If you have comments to make on the voting system or are interested in running for Governor pleasecontact the IETS Heaquarters at iets@assochq.org.

IETS was a fledgling Society. This gave IETS a great deal of credibility and exposure in the scientific community. Hisefforts, along with those of the Program Chairs produced exceptional peer-reviewed abstracts and papers that are thefoundation of our society and the embryo transfer/technology industry. Congratulations also to Duane Kramer, therecipient of the 2006 Pioneer Award. His pioneering work on embryo physiology, embryo development and cloninghave provided major advances that led the way forward enabling many of the technologies that we currently use on adaily basis.

Finally, I would like to thank you the members for giving me the opportunity to serve IETS as a member of theBoard of Governors and as President. It has been a rewarding and challenging experience. I would like to thank all theIETS members, the IETS Board of Governors (past and present) and FASS, for their help, counsel and especiallyfriendship and during these years. When you read this letter we will have newly elected Governors and Vice-President,and during the Annual Conference in Orlando we will all have the chance to thank the out-going Board Members,Richard Fayer-Hosken and Cesare Galli for all their work during the past three years. They have being outstandingdedicated people that have given a lot of themselves on behalf of all of us to make the IETS what it is today. Alsoleaving the Board as immediate Past President is Gabriel Bo. Gabriel has worked unbelievably hard on behalf of theIETS. He has been a tireless presence on the Board for the past six years and the Society, now in the future is in bettercondition because of his efforts. We all owe him a debt of gratitude. I will miss his insight and tenacity during the nextyear, but I know he will continue to serve the IETS as needed in the years to come.

Serving on the Board of Governors is a fascinating experience and I urge you members to submit your names nextyear as candidates for members of the Board of Governors and/or Vice-President. Please do not leave it to the Boardto make all the nominations if you or some one you know is interested in serving your Society.

There is still much to do before the first presentation begins, but I sincerely look forward to seeing each and everyone of you in Orlando.

Happy Holidays!Happy Holidays!Happy Holidays!Happy Holidays!Happy Holidays!

Matt WheelerIETS President

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December 20054

Feature Article

THE MAJOR HISTOCOMPATABILITY COMPLEX AND THE EMBRYO - WHAT’S NEW?

Trudee Fair1, Ian Sargent2, Patrick Lonergan1

1School of Agriculture, Food Science & Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Ireland. 2Nuffield Department

of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK.

The entry of the term HLA-G in to the NCBI PubMed search engine returns no fewer than 695 hits, of which over200 were published in the past two years and of which a sizeable proportion relate directly to the role of HLA-G duringin vitro embryo development. So what is HLA-G, why is there such an interest in its expression in embryos in humanassisted reproduction and are there any implications for cattle? In order to address these questions it is first necessary togive some background information concerning the gene complex to which HLA-G belongs, i.e. the MajorHistocompatibilty Complex (MHC).

The MHC, termed the bovine leukocyte antigens (BoLA) in cattle and the human leukocyte antigens in humans(HLA), encodes a collection of immune and non-immune related molecules (see Kelley et al., 2005 for review). Theseinclude glycoproteins that deliver peptides or antigens to the cell surface for discrimination between self and non-self(histocompatibility) for the immune system (Browning and McMichael, 1996). The mammalian MHC is generallydivided into regions with similar functions, including class I, class II, class III, extended class I and class II regions (seeKelley et al., 2005).

Studies in humans, cattle and other species have shown that the MHC class I region (MHC-I) is involved at anumber of levels in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy (see Choudhury and Knapp, 2001; Warner et al.,2004). The class I region of the MHC includes the classical, or class Ia genes, the non-classical, class Ib, genes and anumber of pseudogenes. Classical class I genes have common characteristics across all species, such as high levels ofpolymorphism and high expression levels and their main function is to discriminate between self and non-self by present-ing antigenic peptides to cytotoxic T lymphocytes, thus eliciting an immune response. Non-classical class I genes aregenerally non-polymorphic, have lower expression levels and varied functions (Ellis et al., 2004; Hughes et al., 1999).

Humans express three classical class I genes (HLA-A, -B and -C), and a number of non-classical genes, includingHLA-G. The situation in cattle is more complex, in that there are six or more classical class I genes, expressed in anumber of different combinations, such that no more than three are expressed on a haplotype (Ellis et al., 1999). Onlytwo non-classical class I genes have thus far been identified in cattle (HD15 and Gene X; Bainbridge et al. 2001a; DiPalma et al 2002). Both of these genes appear to be present in all individuals and they are both transcribed in a tissue-specific manner, although their function is still unknown.

Role of the MHC-I in Pregnancy

In general, the classical class I genes are found to be down-regulated or modified in trophoblast cell populations in

many mammalian species (for review, see Ellis et al., 2004). Lack of MHC class I expression is believed to protect the

E m b r y o T r a n s f e r N e w s l e t t e r5

placenta from attack by the maternal immune system (Davies et al., 2004). However, there are many differences in theprecise mechanisms involved due to differences in type of placentation. For example, Choi et al. (2003) reported thatpregnancy and IFN increased the expression of MHC class I molecules in the endometrial stroma and glandular epitheliumbut not in the luminar- and secretory glandular- epithelia of the ovine uterus. These findings are similar to those of Davies etal. (2000) who reported a lack of MHC class I expression by uterine cryptal, endometrial epithelial cells in cattle. Theauthors hypothesized that the maintenance of an immunologically quiescent uterus could protect the proliferating conceptusfrom maternal immune rejection during implantation.

In cattle, the number of studies that have been carried out to investigate conceptus MHC class I expression duringpregnancy are limited. In term placenta, it appears that classical class I expression is generally absent, although an intermediatelevel of transcription is detectable (Ellis et al., 1998; Davies et al., 2000). In contrast, binucleate trophoblast cells (aninvasive form of trophoblast found in cattle, sheep, goats and deer) do express classical class I, and in addition havetranscripts for the non-classical HD15 gene (Bainbridge et al., 2001a). There are potentially other non-classical class Igenes in cattle that may also be involved in reproduction as submissions to the NCBI genome database would indicate(Accession Numbers: DQ140369; DQ140370; DQ140371).

In contrast to the situation in cattle, a wealth of information exists in relation to the role of the MHC during humanpregnancy. The invasive extravillous cytotrophoblast of the human placenta, which forms the interface between placentaland maternal tissue, has a unique pattern of class I MHC antigen expression (Bainbridge et al., 2001). These cells expressnon-classical HLA-G and HLA-E antigens together with classical HLA-C, but do not express HLA-A or B, which are theprimary stimuli for graft rejection. The limited polymorphism of HLA-G and its tissue distribution strongly suggest that itmight play a key role in preventing the trophoblast from being recognised as foreign and rejected by the mother’s immunesystem. Confirmation of this role appears to come from studies, which have shown that HLA-G does not stimulate classicalT cell responses but instead suppresses the activation of both CD4- (Bainbridge et al., 2000) and CD8- (Kapasi et al.,2000) positive T cells possibly through the induction of apoptosis (Fournel et al., 2000). However, the actions of HLA-Gare not confined to T cells as it also interacts with cells of the innate immune system by binding to receptors expressed onnatural killer (NK) cells and macrophages, both of which are found in uterine decidua. Although HLA-G may inhibit NKcell–mediated lysis, its primary role is thought to be the modulation of cytokine secretion by these cells in order to control

trophoblast invasion and maintain a local immunosuppressive status (Le Bouteiller et al., 2003).

Role of the MHC-In Embryo Development

Strong evidence that MHC expression may play a key role during preimplantation embryo development is emerging.A number of studies have reported that human IVF embryos secrete soluble HLA-G and that the levels secreted in theearly cleavage stages (Day 2-3 post fertilisation) are indicative of the potential of the embryo to implant. These studiesreported significantly higher pregnancy rates when at least one embryo known to be secreting soluble HLA-G was transferredto the mother, compared to cases where none of the embryos produced soluble HLA-G (Fuzzi et al., 2002; Sher et al.,2004, 2005a,b; Noci et al., 2005; Yie et al., 2005). HLA-G is almost non-polymorphic; however, it can be alternativelyspliced into at least 6 known transcripts, which encode 4 membrane bound isoforms (G1, G2, G3, G4) and two solubleisoforms (G5 and G6) (Bainbridge et al., 2001b). HLA-G1 is the full length isoform containing 8 exons and 7 introns. Theother isoforms are alternatively spliced shorter transcripts which lack regions that are complimentary to at least one exon.

December 20056

Some contradictory data exist in terms of the detection of HLA-G soluble protein in spent culture medium, whichmay be due to differences in the specificity of the antibodies used in the ELISAs (Van Lierop et al., 2002). Furthermore,mRNA for soluble HLA-G5 and G6 has not been detected in cleavage stage IVF embryos and only in approximately 20%of blastocysts (Yao et al., in press). However, if the positive findings are validated the implications for human IVF treatmentare enormous as measuring soluble HLA-G could provide a non-invasive yet objective way of selecting the “best” embryosfor transfer. This could simultaneously increase IVF success rates while reducing the number of embryos that are transferred,possibly to a single embryo, thereby reducing the risk of multiple pregnancies and associated problems.

The murine MHC has also received considerable attention. Of particular interest; is a gene that regulatespreimplantation embryonic growth, including cleavage rate, known as the Ped gene (preimplantation embryo development)(Verbanac and Warner, 1981). The Ped gene is located at the Q region of the mouse MHC and, like its proposedfunctional homolog, HLA-G, it is a Class I non-classical MHC gene (Warner et al., 1987). This gene was identified in alaboratory mouse strain; where it was noted that embryos that express the protein product of the Ped gene, the Qa-2antigen, cleaved at a faster rate (Ped fast) than those that were homozygous null mutants (Ped slow). Further studies haveshown that embryos with the Ped fast allele are more likely to survive to term, and their pups have a higher birth weight andweaning weight compared with those with the Ped slow allele (i.e., those that lack Qa-2-encoding genes; Warner et al.,1991; Exley & Warner., 1999).

HLA-G was proposed as a functional homolog of the murine Ped gene by Juriscova et al. (1996) who reportedthat human embryos that expressed HLA-G mRNA cleaved faster than those that did not. Indeed, fast- and slow- cleavingembryo phenotypes have been recorded in a number of species and appear to be highly correlated with the ability of theembryo to reach the blastocyst stage in vitro. Oocytes cleaving earliest after IVF are more likely to reach the blastocyststage than their later-cleaving counterparts (e.g., hamster: McKiernan and Bavister, 1994; human: Sakkas et al., 1998,2001; Shoukir et al., 1998, Fenwick et al., 2002; cattle: Lonergan et al., 1999, 2000; Fair et al., 2004a,b). This phenomenonprovides an excellent model for the retrospective analysis of gene expression as it relates to oocyte developmental competence,particularly in the case of cattle embryos where the bulk of the mRNA profile is of maternal origin until the 8 – 16 cell stage(see Memili and First, 2000). By comparing amongst other things, the mRNA gene expression profiles of fast- versusslow-cleaving bovine embryos the goal of some of our research has been to identify genes and pathways that could bepossible biomarkers of an oocyte’s subsequent embryo developmental potential (Fair et al., 2004a). We have also beeninterested in the possibility that a functional homolog of the murine Ped gene and the human HLA-G gene exists in cattle.Recent investigations at our laboratory have confirmed the presence of MHC-I mRNA across all stages of bovine embryodevelopment from the zygote up to the Day 7 blastocyst stage (Fair et al., 2004b). Moreover, our study revealed that therelative abundance of class I transcripts was (i) highest in faster developing embryos and (ii) was lower in in vitro culturedembryos compared to their in vivo cultured counterparts. However, no sequence data were derived from the PCR-amplified class I fragments, and further investigations are ongoing to determine whether classical and / or non-classical classI genes are being up-regulated. Evidence of MHC-I expression by bovine blastocysts has also been reported in a recentmicroarray-based comparison of gene expression in vitro produced versus nuclear transfer derived embryos (Pfister-Genskow et al., 2005). Interestingly, in agreement with an earlier report (Hill et al., 2002), the authors observed higherMHC-I expression in nuclear transfer derived embryos. Both groups go on to suggest that elevated trophoblast MHC-Iexpression is possibly detrimental to pregnancy survival; However, a distinction between classical and non-classical MHC-I expression was not made and therefore further studies are required.

E m b r y o T r a n s f e r N e w s l e t t e r7

It is tempting to speculate that it is classical MHC-I that is up-regulated in the cloned cattle embryos and which maybe associated with impaired placentation and it is non-classical MHC-I mRNA that is up-regulated in our fast cleaving 2-cell and in vivo produced embryos. This hypothesis is supported somewhat by preliminary results from our group thatsuggest that non-classical MHC-I mRNA is expressed during early preimplantation bovine embryo development (Doyle etal., unpublished data) and by the complicated differential HLA expression profile of human tissues at the materno-foetalinterface (see Choudhury and Knapp 2001; King et al., 2000).

If it can be proven that a bovine homolog of HLA-G exists the race will be on to find a soluble isoform and toestablish a bovine ELISA by which this possible predictor of embryo potential could be measured in in vitro embryo

culture media.

REFERENCESBainbridge D, Ellis S and Sargent I. (2000). HLA-G suppresses proliferation of CD4(+) T-lymphocytes. J Reprod Immunol. 48(1): 17-

26.

Bainbridge D, Sargent I and Ellis S. (2001b). Expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I transplantation antigensin bovine trophoblast cells before fusion with maternal cells. Reproduction 122(6):907-13

Bainbridge D, Ellis S, Le Bouteiller P and Sargent I. (2001b). HLA-G remains a mystery. Trends in Immunology 22, 548-552.

Browning M and McMichael A (1996). Introduction. In Browning M and McMichael A (eds), HLA and MHC: Genes, Moleculesand Function. BIOS Scientific Publishers, Oxford, UK, pp. xiii-xvii.

Choi Y, Johnson GA, Spencer TE and Bazer FW (2003). Pregnancy and Interferon Tau Regulate Major Histocompatibility ComplexClass I and ß2-Microglobulin Expression in the Ovine Uterus. Biol Reprod. 68: 1703–1710.

Choudhury SR and Knapp LA (2001). Human reproductive failure II: Immunogenetic and interacting factors. Hum Reprod Update7: 135-160.

Davies CJ, Fisher PJ and Schlafer DH (2000). Temporal and regional regulation of major histocompatibility complex class I expres-sion at the bovine uterine/placental interface. Placenta 21(2-3): 194-202.

Davies CJ, Hill JR, Edwards JL, Schrick FN, Fisher PJ Eldridge JA and Schlafer DH (2004). Major histocompatibility antigen expres-sion on the bovine placenta: its relationship to abnormal pregnancies and retained placenta.Anim Reprod Sci. 82-83:267-80.

Di Palma F, Archibald SD, Young JR and Ellis SA (2002). A BAC contig of approximately 400 kb contains the classical class I majorhistocompatibility complex (MHC) genes of cattle. Eur J Immunogenet. 29(1): 65-8.

Ellis S (2004). The cattle major histocompatibility complex: is it unique? Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 102(1-2): 1-8.

Ellis SA, Sargent IL, Charleston B, Bainbridge DR (1998). Regulation of MHC class I gene expression is at transcriptional and post-transcriptional level in bovine placenta. J Reprod Immunol. 37(2):103-15.

Ellis SA, Holmes EC, Staines KA, Smith KB, Stear MJ, McKeever DJ, MacHugh ND and Morrison WI (1999). Variation in thenumber of expressed MHC genes in different cattle class I haplotypes. Immunogenetics 50(5-6): 319-28.

Exley GE and Warner CM (1999). Selection in favor of the Ped fast haplotype occurs between mid-gestation and birth. Immunoge-netics 49:653-659.

Fair T, Gutierrez-Adan A, Murphy M, Rizos D, Martin F, Boland MP and Lonergan P (2004). Search for the bovine homolog of themurine ped gene and characterization of its messenger RNA expression during bovine preimplantation development. Biol Reprod. 70(2):488-94

Fair T, Murphy M, Rizos D, Moss C, Martin F, Boland MP and Lonergan P (2004). Analysis of differential maternal mRNA expres-sion in developmentally competent and incompetent bovine two-cell embryos. Mol Reprod Dev. 67(2): 136-44.

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Fenwick J, Platteau P, Murdoch AP and Herbert M (2002). Time from insemination to first cleavage predicts developmental compe-tence of human preimplantation embryos in vitro. Hum Reprod. 17(2): 407-12.

Fournel S, Aguerre-Girr M, Huc X, Lenfant F, Alam A, Toubert A, Bensussan A and Le Bouteiller P (2000). Cutting edge: solubleHLA-G1 triggers CD95/CD95 ligand-mediated apoptosis in activated CD8+ cells by interacting with CD8. J Immunol. 164(12): 6100-4.

Fuzzi B, Rizzo R, Criscuoli L, Noci I, Melchiorri L, Scarselli B, Bencini E, Menicucci A and Baricordi OR (2002). HLA-G expression inearly embryos is a fundamental prerequisite for the obtainment of pregnancy. Eur J Immunol. 32(2): 311-5.

Hill JR, Schlafer DH, Fisher PJ and Davies CJ (2002). Abnormal expression of trophoblast major histocompatibility complex class Iantigens in cloned bovine pregnancies is associated with a pronounced endometrial lymphocytic response. Biol Reprod. 67(1): 55-63.

Hughes AL, Yeager M, Ten Elshof AE and Chorney MJ (1999). A new taxonomy of mammalian MHC class I molecules. ImmunolToday 20(1): 22-6.

Kapasi K, Albert SE, Yie S, Zavazava N, Librach CL (2000). HLA-G has a concentration-dependent effect on the generation of anallo-CTL response. Immunology. 101(2):191-200.

Kelley J, Walter L and Trowsdale J (2005). Comparative genomics of major histocompatibility complexes. Immunogenetics 56(10):683-95.

A. King, T.D. Burrows, S.E. Hiby, J.M. Bowen, S. Joseph, S. Verma, P.B. Lim, L. Gardner, P. Le Bouteiller, A. Ziegler, B. Uchanska-Ziegler and Y.W. Loke (2000). Surface expression of HLA-C antigen by human extravillous trophoblast, Placenta 21 pp. 376–387.

Le Bouteiller P, Legrand-Abravanel F and Solier C (2003). Soluble HLA-G1 at the materno-foetal interface—a review. Placenta 24Suppl A: S10-5.

Lonergan P, Gutierrez-Adan A, Pintado B, Fair T, Ward F, Fuente JD and Boland M (2000). Relationship between time of firstcleavage and the expression of IGF-I growth factor, its receptor, and two housekeeping genes in bovine two-cell embryos and blasto-cysts produced in vitro. Mol Reprod Dev. 57(2): 146-52.

Lonergan P, Khatir H, Piumi F, Rieger D, Humblot P and Boland MP (1999). Effect of time interval from insemination to first cleavageon the developmental characteristics, sex ratio and pregnancy rate after transfer of bovine embryos. J Reprod Fertil. 117(1): 159-67.

McKiernan SH and Bavister BD (1994). Timing of development is a critical parameter for predicting successful embryogenesis.Hum Reprod. 9(11): 2123-9.

Memili E and First NL (2000). Zygotic and embryonic gene expression in cow: a review of timing and mechanisms of early geneexpression as compared with other species. Zygote. 8(1):87-96

Noci I, Fuzzi B, Rizzo R, Melchiorri L, Criscuoli L, Dabizzi S, Biagiotti R, Pellegrini S, Menicucci A and Baricordi OR (2005). Embry-onic soluble HLA-G as a marker of developmental potential in embryos. Hum Reprod. 20(1): 138-46.

Redman CW, McMichael AJ, Stirrat GM, Sunderland CA and Ting A (1984). Class 1 major histocompatibility complex antigens onhuman extra-villous trophoblast. Immunology. 52(3): 457-68.

Sakkas D, Percival G, D’Arcy Y, Sharif K and Afnan M (2001). Assessment of early cleaving in vitro fertilized human embryos at the2-cell stage before transfer improves embryo selection. Fertil Steril. 76(6): 1150-6.

Sakkas D, Shoukir Y, Chardonnens D, Bianchi PG and Campana A (1998). Early cleavage of human embryos to the two-cell stageafter intracytoplasmic sperm injection as an indicator of embryo viability. Hum Reprod. 13(1): 182-7.

Sher G, Keskintepe L, Fisch JD, Acacio BA, Ahlering P, Batzofin J and Ginsburg M (2005). Soluble human leukocyte antigen Gexpression in phase I culture media at 46 hours after fertilization predicts pregnancy and implantation from day 3 embryo transfer. FertilSteril. 83(5): 1410-3.

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Sher G, Keskintepe L, Nouriani M, Roussev R and Batzofin J (2004). Expression of sHLA-G in supernatants of individually cultured46-h embryos: a potentially valuable indicator of ‘embryo competency’ and IVF outcome. Reprod Biomed Online 9(1): 74-8.

Shoukir Y, Campana A, Farley T and Sakkas D (1997). Early cleavage of in-vitro fertilized human embryos to the 2-cell stage: a novelindicator of embryo quality and viability. Hum Reprod. 12(7): 1531-6.

Van Lierop MJ, Wijnands F, Loke YW, Emmer PM, Lukassen HG, Braat DD, van der Meer A, Mosselman S and Joosten I (2002).Detection of HLA-G by a specific sandwich ELISA using monoclonal antibodies G233 and 56B. Mol Hum Reprod. 8(8): 776-84.

Verbanac KM and Warner CM (1981). Role of the major histocompatibility complex in the timing of early mammalian development.In: Glasser SR, Bullock DW (eds.) Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Implantation. New York; Plenum Publishers; 467-470

Warner CM, Newmark JA, Comiskey M, De Fazio SR, O’Malley D M, Rajadhyaksha M, Townsend DJ, McKnight S, Roysam B,Dwyer PJ and Dimarzio CA (2004). Genetics and imaging to assess oocyte and preimplantation embryo health. Reprod Fertil Dev. 16(7):729-41.

Warner CM, Gollnick SO, Goldbard SB (1987). Linkage of the preimplantation-embryo-developent (Ped) gene to the mouse majorhistocompatibility complex (MHC). Biol Reprod. 36: 606-610.

Warner CM, Brownell MS and Rothschild MF (1991). Analysis of litter size and weight in mice differing in Ped gene phenotype andthe Q region of the H-2 complex. J Reprod Immunol. 19: 303-313.

Warner CM, Panda P, Almquist CD, Xu Y (1993). Preferential survival of mice expressing the Qa-2 antigen. J Reprod Fertil. 99:145-147.

Yao YQ, Barlow DH and IL Sargent. Differential expression of Alternatively Spliced Transcripts of HLA-G in Human Blastocystsand Inner Cell Masses. J. Immunol. (in press).

Yie SM, Balakier H, Motamedi G and Librach CL (2005). Secretion of human leukocyte antigen-G by human embryos is associatedwith a higher in vitro fertilization pregnancy rate. Fertil Steril. 83(1): 30-6.

December 200510

RESEARCH SCIENTISTPOSITION IN CRYOBIOLOGY

The Canadian Animal Genetic Re-source Program, University ofSaskatchewan has a new position, for aResearch Scientist with expertise incryobiology in reproductive biology. Thesuccessful applicant will develop new andimproved applications of cryopreservationof gametes and embryos in domestic, food-producing animals and poultry, and givescientific and technical advice to scien-tists, industry representatives, conserva-tionists and other clients of the CanadianAnimal Genetic Resource Program. Majorresponsibilities are research and scholarlywork, service to the livestock industry anddevelopment of an active research programin cryobiology.

For more information contact KenRichards at 306-956-7641 orrichardsk@agr.gc.ca, or Reuben Mapletoftat 306-966-7149 orreuben.mapletoft@usask.ca, or go to thePublic Service Commission of Canada site.http://www.jobs-emplois.gc.ca/menu/home_e.htm. Applications must becompleted on the Public Service Commis-sion of Canada web-site. Position Number:37742 (Research Scientist, Cryobiologist inReproductive Biology). The position isavailable immediately.

REPRODUCTIVE ULTRA-SONOGRAPHY AND EMBRYO

TRANSFER WORKSHOPSMay 1 - 6, 2006

Western College of VeterinaryMmedicine

University of SaskatchewanSaskatoon, SK Canada

Reproductive Ultrasonography andEmbryo Transfer Workshops for veterinarypractitioners, research scientists andstudents are being conducted in tandem atthe Western College of Veterinary Medi-cine May 1 to 6, 2006. The primaryemphasis will be on cattle, but speciescomparisons will be provided. Principalinstructors for the UltrasonographyWorkshop are Drs. Gregg Adams andJaswant Singh and principal instructors forthe Embryo Transfer Workshop are Drs.Reuben Mapletoft and John Hasler. Bothworkshops will involve lectures andhands-on lab sessions, and participantsmay register for both workshops or eachindividually. For more information, contactReuben Mapletoft(reuben.mapletoft@usask.ca), or GreggAdams (gregg.adams@usask.ca),Register on-line at:http://rsm.usask.ca/events.htmlor contact: Anne Ruholl(anne.ruholl@usask.ca), tel: (306) 966-7267, fax: (306) 966-7274.

Classifieds

Upcoming Events-ContinuingEducation Opportunities

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Upcoming Events-ContinuingEducation Opportunities, Cont.

7TH INTERNATIONALRUMINANT REPRODUCTION

SYMPOSIUMIt is with great pleasure that the

Organising Committee for the 7th Interna-tional Ruminant Reproduction Sympo-sium invites the submission of abstractsfor poster presentation in this scientificevent to be held between 13-17th August2006 in Wellington, New Zealand.

Upcoming Events-ContinuingEducation Opportunities

The Ruminant Reproduction Sympo-sium is the most prestigious internationalreproduction conference for ruminantswith a major emphasis on sheep and cattle,but also includes keynote presentationson other species. It has been held approxi-mately every 4 years in various countriesaround the world including Leura, Austra-lia (1980), Ithaca, USA (1986), Nice, France(1990), Townsville, Australia (1994),Colorado Springs, USA (1998), Crieff,Scotland (2002) and now, New Zealand.

Twenty seven international speakershave been invited to attend the RuminantReproduction Symposium. They willhighlight current knowledge and state-of-the-art reproductive biology and technol-ogy applicable to both developed anddeveloping nations, in a range of ruminantspecies. Please visit the website to viewthe proposed scientific programme (www.ruminantsymposium2006.co.nz).

This stimulating meeting will becomplimented by the wonderful opportuni-ties for both outdoor activities and culturalexperiences that the vibrant capital of NewZealand offers.

Free communications on all aspects ofreproduction in ruminant animals can bepresented at the conference.

Abstract requirements: Abstractsmust be in English and prepared accordingto the instructions for authors. Abstractswill be reviewed and published in both theProgramme Handbook for delegates inaddition to inclusion in a Supplement ofthe science journal Reproduction thatshall include the review manuscripts fromthe invited speakers.

Electronic abstract submission:Please go to https://secure.tcc.co.nz/

ei/cm.esp?id=340&pageid=_1MT0P1GNSfor abstract instructions and electronicsubmission (please note the distinctionbetween abstracts for poster presentationand those for invited speakers).

Submission deadline: The firmdeadline for receipt of the abstracts is 28th

February 2006.Abstract acceptance: Notification of

acceptance will be provided to corre-sponding authors by 1st April 2006.

Abstract acceptance will oblige thecorresponding author to present the workin a scientific poster at the symposium.Poster instructions will be included in thenotification of acceptance.

Symposium Registration: Earlybirdregistration will be available from February2006 and will close 30th April 2006.Otherwise, normal registration is availableright up to the time of the Symposium.

Upcoming Events-ContinuingEducation Opportunities, Cont.

E m b r y o T r a n s f e r N e w s l e t t e r11

Data Retrieval Committee Annual Report - Year 2004SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN TRANSFERS OF BOTH IN VIVO DERIVED AND IN

VITRO PRODUCED EMBRYOS IN CATTLE AND CONTRASTED TRENDS INOTHER SPECIES IN 2004.

By Professor Michel THIBIER – Chairperson.

SummaryThe committee met in early 2005 at the IETS venue at Copenhagen (DK). The results from the survey of the

previous year were discussed and emphasis was addressed on the effort that was to be made for those countries wherethere is difficulty finding a national collector able to report the data. Posting of this yearly report on the IETS web site insuch a manner that it is accessible to all including non-members was strongly suggested to the Board and action hasbeen taken during the 2005 year.

The total number of bovine in vivo derived embryos transferred has largely increased in 2004, with almost550,000 embryos transferred, which is close to breaking the current record. This is mainly related to the increasedactivity in Asia and South America where new and prospective markets reside. A similar trend of increased transfersholds true for in vitro- produced embryos. Here the record was broken this year and for the first time 239,813 IVFembryos were transferred. Hence, a total of about 789,000 bovine embryo transfers were performed, 30% derive fromin vitro production.

In small ruminants, the activity in sheep has significantly increased as opposed to that in caprine or cervids, whichhave declined slightly although there is some underestimation in our retrieval data due to the lack of response from teamsin Australia and New Zealand. The equine ET industry is doing well in its traditional regions and some frozen embryoshave been transferred this year. Finally in swine, although it seems difficult to receive data from some private companies,more than 15,000 embryos have been transferred including close to 2,000 frozen embryos.

The year 2004 was a very good year for the ET industry on the whole with obvious variations according toregions. The numbers of embryos transferred has never been so high, illustrating the benefits of this technology to thewhole farming industry.

IntroductionFor the 14th year in a row, this committee is reporting to the IETS members and the world, where the Embryo

Transfer industry stands in terms of numbers and of activity. The Committee met at the onset of the year 2005 at theIETS annual conference venue in Copenhagen (Dk). Fifteen members from all continents attended and apologizes werereceived from 11 members. Among the points arising from the previous meeting, two were of particular note, one referswith the recurrent lack of data from some countries that must be approached in a more efficient manner (from Asia,South America and Oceania) and the other referred to the need of an increased effort of communication. This relates inparticular to the posting of some of this information on the IETS website and Gabriel Bo agreed to take care of this assoon as possible. There were also comments on the trends seen in 2003 as compared to 2002, on both in vivo and invitro collected and produced embryos in the bovine. The decrease in the in vivo embryos observed in 2003, wereestimated mainly due to lack of reports from some significant countries (such as in Oceania) rather than to a real declinein the activity. It was also noted that the figures we get for small ruminants, equine and swine must be collected in a moreappropriate manner. It was also decided that it was better to report the figures the chairperson received rather thannothing, giving at least an indication of the activity to the world, provided that it was so stated in the report. Each mem-ber expressed their willingness to improve our retrieval system where appropriate and in particular would mention thiscommittee to the audiences of all conferences in which they were participating. It was finally agreed that the forms intheir present format were satisfactory but emphasis was made that they be followed by everyone to prevent difficulties ingetting data as it does not always match from one given country to another. New contact persons and collectors werelisted and will be posted to collect their national data.

December 200512

1. A significant increase in the numbers of in vivo collected and transferred embryos.The total number of flushes reported this year has never been so high and is shown in Table 1, to be over 115,000. Theseflushes result in a high number of transferable embryos, close to 700,000 embryos. Not all of them were transferred, ofcourse, but almost 550,000 embryos were transferred in the year 2004. It is of note that this number is certainly underestimatedalthough it is difficult to measure the magnitude of such an underestimation. Clearly some countries have not reported (likeIndia) or partially reported (like in Oceania in particular) where some activity is known to be happening. However, somenew countries have reported and this may partially explain the increase in numbers seen in 2004.

Table 1. Overall Activity of In Vivo-Derived Bovine Embryos in 2004.

CONTINENTS FLUSHES TRANSFER NUMBER OF TRANSFERRED- RABLE EMBRYOSEMBRYOS FRESH FROZEN TOTAL

AFRICA 1,953 12,751 4,430 2,602 7,032 (1.3%)

N. AMERICA 52,855 320,908 117,949 98,670 216,619 (39.5%)S. AMERICA 22,619 134,090 106,711 9,229 115,940(21.1%)ASIA 21608 119,157 56,886 61,651 118,537 (21.6%)EUROPE (*) 17,458 101,989 39,302 48,249(**) 87,551 (15.9%)OCEANIA (***) 500 2,650 1,700 1,900 3,600 (0.6%)TOTAL 116,993 691,545 326,978 222,301 549,279

(*) Those European data are derived from the statistics of AETE, 2005.(**) One country did not split the figures between fresh and frozen (Total 5,000). By convention, they were all included inthe frozen column so as to take them into account in the gross total.(***) Due to lack of responses from many ET teams from this continent, this line is highly underestimated.

Percentage wise from the various continents (Table 1), it can be seen that North America counts for close to 40%of the total, South America and Asia make up around 21% of the total and Europe ranks next with approximately 16%of the total. This illustrates the fact that the embryo transfer industry continues to develop well in North America andeven more interestingly develops even better in Asia and South America. Africa and Oceania only take into account,respectively, a little more than 1% and less than 1%. However, neither Australia nor New Zealand has reported activityby more than a few teams so their figures are therefore very much underrepresented.

Regarding the fresh and frozen embryos, again the situation this year is in contrast but inline with the previousreports. On the whole, more fresh embryos were transferred than frozen embryos but this derives from the great differ-ential seen in South America, in particular in Brazil where most of the embryos from Zebu cows were transferred asfresh. In Asia and Europe slightly more frozen embryos were transferred than fresh. The reverse is true in NorthAmerica. On average, 5.9 transferable embryos were collected from the flushed cows. This is slightly less than the figureobserved the previous year but again there are so many differences according to report that this number is only indica-tive.

Several features from the country reports are interesting to share. Data from Africa indicate that some transfershave taken place in various countries in addition to South Africa such as in Kenya, Namibia and Sudan. In Asia, somefigures were again reported from Indonesia and the Japanese report states that more than 17,000 calves were registeredfrom in vivo collected embryos. The US collector, states that at least 80% of the teams (total 103 teams) have giventheir figures to the AETA Statistics Committee. More than 125,000 frozen embryos from beef breeds are in storagealong with approximately 16,000 from dairy cows. The number of frozen embryos in 2004 (150,000 embryos) exceedsby 80 % about the number of transferred embryos. These frozen embryos represent significant storage for the future. A

E m b r y o T r a n s f e r N e w s l e t t e r13

rough number of ~10,500 embryos have been exported (mainly from beef breeds). The Canadian report based on 61clinics, not only is very exhaustive but also includes interesting features, thanks to the collectors. In Canada, more than2,400 embryos have been sexed and either transferred as fresh or frozen, most of them being collected from dairybreeds. Of these 957 split embryos were subsequently transferred. A total of 53,784 embryos are in storage. Exportsfrom Canada have been very active as evidenced by transfers in foreign countries (North America, Asia and Europe) byCanadian practitioners. Canada has also shipped large exceeding 10,000 with only 257 imported embryos reported.

From Europe, 23 countries have reported their numbers. It can be seen from Table 2, that France and the Nether-lands remain the main countries both in terms of flushed cows and transferred embryos. France has declined its numberby close to 10% but the Netherlands has remained at about the same level as last year. By contrast, Germany hasincreased by ~1,000 its number of transferred embryos. Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy and the United Kingdom inthat order have transferred between 5,000 and 10,000 embryos with a significant increase for the first two as comparedwith the previous year. Behind those five countries, stands Ireland that has transferred 1,244 embryos. These resultshave been possible thanks to the European association collector who also retrieved data from Russia with more than200 embryos reported transferred either fresh or frozen.

Table 2. The Top Twelve European Countries Ranked According to Numbers of In Vivo-Derived EmbryosTransferred in 2004 (AETE, 2005).

COUNTRIES NUMBER OF NUMBER OFFLUSHES EMBRYOS TRANSFERRED

FRANCE 5 520 29,414NETHERLANDS 3 223 14,778 ≅GERMANY 2 806 10,522BELGIUM 1 095 6,800CZECH Republic 1 184 6,339ITALY 1 021 5,978 ≅UNITED KINGDOM (*) n.d. 5,000 ≅DENMARK 579 3,538FINLAND 550 2,962 ≅SWITZERLAND 254 1,663SPAIN 335 1,321 ≅SWEDEN 328 1,300 ≅

(*)This is the only data available for this country this year.≅ evolution as compared to the previous year

Table 3 reports the data from the top 5 countries outside North America and Europe. One can see that Brazil hasthe lead among those countries with more than 100,000 embryos transferred that are essentially from the so-called beefcows including zebu females. Most of them are transferred as fresh. Japan and China have similar numbers reportedalthough in Japan; some extrapolation of the data from the previous year has been made. The variations noticed here aresmall for both countries. The same holds true for some teams in Argentina but the total number close to 14,000 ofembryos transferred has increased according to the collector. Finally, the Republic of South Africa has seen its activityonly slightly decreased by 100 as compared to last year and with still more than 6,000 embryos transferred in thatcountry. It is to note that the proportion of fresh vs. frozen embryos varies according to countries and in Japan forinstance, many more embryos are frozen whereas it is the reverse in China. This is probably due to the types of breedsthat are collected (beef vs. dairy).

December 200514

Table 3. The Top Five Countries Outside Europe and North America in 2004.NUMBER OF EMBRYOS TRANSFERRED

COUNTRIES NO. FLUSHES FRESH FROZEN TOTAL

BRAZIL 19,501 101,233 867 102,100

JAPAN 10,433 16,931 41,027 57,958

P R CHINA 10,430 38,478 20,122 58,600

ARGENTINA 3,018 5,478 8,632 13,840

SOUTH AFRICA 1,698 4,387 1,682 6,069

2. The number of in vitro produced embryos in cattle has more than doubled in 2004.The year 2004 again saw the production of in vitro-produced embryos in cattle increase its performance with

more than 200,000 of such embryos transferred achieved for the first time (see Table 4). The trends are similar to thosedescribed last year. The activity in Africa, North America and Europe is small, but it has increased dramatically both inSouth America and in Asia. It is a shame that no data were obtained from either Australia or New Zealand in this regard,as then the reality would even have been better reflected. Regardless, this total figure breaks the record for the numberof IVF embryos transferred in a single year.

Table 4. The Number of Bovine In Vitro-Produced Embryos Transferred in 2004.

TRANSFERABLE TRANSFERREDEMBRYOS EMBRYOS

COLLECTED FRESH FROZEN TOTALAFRICA 2,598 74 47 121 ≅ASIA 122,142 42,547 107,570 150,097

N.AMERICA (*) 2,385 2,070 49 2,119 ≅

S.AMERICA 80,833 80,833 80,833 EUROPE 111,128 3,437 3,196 6,643

OCEANIA N.D. N.D.TOTAL 319,086 128,951 110,862 239,813

In the Republic of South Africa, most of the ~2,600 in vitro-produced embryos were from abattoir oocytes butonly 98 of them were further transferred (75% frozen), some frozen IVF embryos were also imported and transferred.

European statistics show that there were 9,139 IVF produced embryos1 , of which two thirds were produced fromOvum Pick Up collection. In this regard, it is reported that 4,534 sessions of OPU were performed by the Europeanteams with a mean number of 1.41 embryo produced per session. The remaining third of such embryos were derivedfrom abattoir collection of ovaries. The total number of IVF embryos transferred in this continent was only 6.4 % of thetotal embryos transferred. It is of note also that their number is split with approximately half fresh and half frozen. Thisresults from the fact that most ET teams transfer as fresh with a notable exception the Italian laboratory, which hastransferred ~2,000 embryos as frozen-thawed in 2004 and the Netherlands which transferred 784 fresh in vitro-produced embryos and 904 embryos that frozen-thawed.

1 These data for IVF embryos were issued from the AETE statistics modified with additional data collected after its annual conference.

E m b r y o T r a n s f e r N e w s l e t t e r15

The number of collections in the USA is 2,665 resulting in more than 2,000 embryos assessed as transferable andalmost all were further transferred. Only a few (>50) were frozen, the vast majority being transferred as fresh. Bycontrast, in Canada, and Europe for example most (98%) of these IVF embryos were produced by OPU, all from dairybreeds. Only a few hundreds of them were reported transferred in Canada and those were fresh. Thousands wereexported primarily to the Republic of China and transferred by Canadian teams.

As mentioned above, the South Americans and quasi exclusively the Brazilians have increased dramatically theiractivity in producing IVF embryos. More than 300,000 collections essentially from Zebu females were performed and80,833 transferable embryos were recorded. Those were all transferred as fresh. The situation is more diverse in Asia.In Japan, 8,865 IVF embryos were transferred but the collector did not indicate, which proportion of them were frozenor fresh, they were each around 50% the previous year. It was however, reported that 19,575 calves were recordedand registered as conceived by IVF. Thailand transferred less than 100 IVF embryos and has some in storage. Koreacontinues to develop an intense activity in producing such embryos. Close to 400,000 oocytes were collected eitherfrom OPU or from abattoir and resulted in 69,936 transferable embryos. More than 40,000 of such embryos weretransferred, 35,134 as fresh and 5,493 as frozen-thawed, 4,664 are reported as stored. Taiwan, in 2004, obtained 127transferable embryos and 65 were transferred as frozen.

The Republic of China has also had an intense activity in terms of IVF production and transfer. There were 16,375transferable embryos produced and 1,248 transfers of fresh embryos and 93,627 of frozen were reported. The latteroriginated either from local production or from foreign embryos in storage dating from the previous years. As a matter offact, this trade has been impaired to some extent due to the ESB status of the two North American countries, which hadset quite an active exchange of IVF embryos.

3. Contrasted results from embryo transfer in other species.The small ruminants are also parts of the embryo transfer industry with some dramatic contrasts according to

regions in the world. For sheep and on the whole, the numbers collected this year are much higher than last year. Thissituation is not due to such a high increase in the activity but reflects mostly the great help some of our colleagues havegiven the committee in sending their data on time. As shown in Table 5, close to 100,000 transferable embryos havebeen collected this year and 68,000 about were transferred essentially as fresh with only 10% being frozen and trans-ferred. Three main countries have contributed to this number, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In the republicof South Africa, from 2,317 collections, 19,048 total embryos were collected with two thirds being assessed as trans-ferable, 913 were transferred as fresh, 155 as frozen and a stock of 6,665 is currently banked. In Australia, some datahave been collected, thanks to individual practitioners who reported directly to the Committee and following a discus-sion the practitioners involved in the sheep ET industry had at their last AETS conference. Hence from both real figuresand estimates, the total number of sheep flushes comes to 9,600 and resulted in 70,000 transferable embryos with59,800 embryos transferred and ~10 % frozen. Very few practitioners reported from New Zealand but this country toois actively involved with thousands of embryos transferred. However, the Committee has recorded only 920. Besidesthose major countries, Canada reported 598 embryos collected and 549 transferred but some Canadian practitionerswere involved in some transfer overseas such as in China, Turkey and also in the US. This activity represented a total of760 embryos collected and transferred fresh. Some frozen embryos were also exported to Turkey (n= 53) and thePeople Republic of China (n = 26). Europe has a marginal activity with sheep embryos producing approximately 100embryos collected from France, Rumania and Greece.

By contrast, the activity in goats has not reached its peak of early 2000 and in fact has declined. This year, lessthan 2,000 embryos were collected (Table 5) and less than a thousand have been transferred. Behind the Republic ofSouth Africa, still the leader in this area, Korea and Taiwan got involved and contributed 153 fresh transfers in Koreaand 216 fresh and 312 frozen transferred embryos for Taiwan. In Europe, Romania has transferred a few tens of freshembryos and Canada in North America also indicated that 206 embryos were collected and only 15 transferred domes-tically.

The deer activity has also declined lately and the Canadians and the new Zealanders are the only members thatreported having transferred such embryos. Some exports of deer embryos from Canada to Spain with 112 fresh and 6frozen ones, were of note.

December 200516

Table 5. Small Ruminants ET Activity in 2004.

TRANSFERABLE TRANSFERREDSPECIES EMBRYOS EMBRYOS

FRESH FROZEN

SHEEP

TOTAL 84,943 62,088 6,006

GOAT

TOTAL 1,755 422 315

CERVIDS

TOTAL 322 220 62

For horses, only a few countries were involved and remain the same from one year to another of course in closelink with the equine business. In some countries, the numbers result from a strict inventory, for a number of others, it isan estimate due to the difficulty for some practitioners involved in equine ET to report. It is of satisfaction nevertheless tosee not only an improvement in retrieving such data but also to see that the figures also increased by close to 50% (seeTable 6) as compared to last year. North America, mainly the US and South America (both Argentina and Brazil)contribute to more than 90 % on the whole. Europe has only a marginal activity in this area and so has the Republic ofSouth Africa. It is not known if any activity of this kind in this species takes place in any country of Asia such as India forexample.

Table 6 Equine ET Activities in 2004.

COUNTRIES TRANSFERABLE EMBRYOSFLUSHES EMBRYOS TRANFERRED

FRESH FROZENARGENTINA 10,000BRAZIL 8,500 5,500 5,500CANADA 50 28 26EUROPE 750 446 387SOUTH AFRICA 15 9 9USA 12,000 5,750 5,500 250

TOTAL 31,315 11,733 11,422 250

This year is the fifth year this committee has attempted to collect data for the swine industry. Obviously the com-mittee does not get such a good response than for other species mainly because of private interests that the managersthink communication of the numbers might impair their business. This is of course totally false.

Table 7 Swine ET Activity in 2004.

TRANSFERREDTRANSFERABLE EMBRYOS RECIPIENT

COUNTRIES FLUSHES EMBRYOS FRESH FROZEN FEMALESCANADA 154 1,367 2,448 212KOREA (1) 105 2,608 34 63

13,604 9,780

EUROPE (2) 389 387

(3) 178 6,584 548 1,934TAÏWAN 51 885 885 26USA N dTOTAL 488 25,437 14,082 1,934 -

(1) In vitro produced and clones(2) From AETE statistics(3) In addition to the AETE data.

This committee appreciates those that do agree to give their figures anonymously so that the world knows wherethis technology is in terms of further development, having no doubt that in this species too, this technology may benefitvery substantially the pig industry. From the records the committee received, there is not much change this year in thenumbers as compared to those of last year. The total number of flushes has increased by 25% but the number of trans-ferable embryos has remained similar and the number of fresh transferred embryos is slightly less. Interestingly, close to2,000 embryos collected were frozen and transferred as such in 71 females. Taiwan indicates that from its 885 transfersas fresh onto 26 recipient females, the pregnancy rate recorded was 50% and the number of piglets born 88.

ConclusionThe year 2004 was certainly a landmark in the embryo transfer industry in terms of activity. For the first time, more

than 789,000 bovine embryos have been transferred. If the in vivo-derived embryos in this species have reached oneof its larger numbers like a few years ago, the in vitro produced had never reached such a high activity with more than200,000 IVF embryos transferred. This also shows that the two continents, namely Asia and South America, which arethose where those numbers have increased the most dramatically, are the area where this ET industry may benefit themost farmers in introducing the desired genotypes in an efficient and convenient manner.

Acknowledgments:It is the privilege of the Chairman to gratefully acknowledge the most valuable help of all who participated to this

worldwide network of ET data retrieval and more particularly all of the AETE, P. Lonergan and all the Europeancollectors and also, M. Alvarenga, G. Bo, A. Cover, Dong Soo Son, D. Ducro-Steverink, J. Gavel, M. A. Hidalgo, A.Iritani, S. Malin, R. Mapletoft, E. T. Margawati, F. Martinat-Botté, T. Nagai, M. A. L. Oliveira, D. Osborn, A. Pugh,T. Rea, R Remillard, M. de la Rey, J. L. Rigo Rodrigues, N. Sanderson, Shan Nan Lee, E. Squires, B. Stroud, V.Yiengvisavakul. I would also like to acknowledge M. B. Wheeler for his assistance in reviewing and editing this manu-script.

December 200518

IETS Annual Conference 2006 in OrlandoMain Scientific Program

“Gametes to Fertilization – Impact of New Technology on Embryo Production”

Sunday, January 8

10:30 Opening Comments and Welcome to the 32nd Annual Conference of the IETS.

Session I: New approaches to gamete preservationSession Chair: Matt Wheeler, University of Illinois, USASession Co-Chair: Hannah Galatino-Homer, University of Pennsylvania, USA

10:45 Freeze-Drying of Sperm, Applications in Primates and Domestic Animals.Stuart A. Meyers, DVM, PhD, Dip. ACT, University of California, Davis.

11:25 Preservation of Gonadal TissueStefan Schlatt, PhD, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, PA.

12:05 Porcine Blastocysts Derived From In Vitro-Matured Oocytes Injected Intracytoplasmically WithSperm From Testicular Tissue Xenografted Into Nude Mice.K. Kikuchi*, M. Nakai, N. Kashiwazaki, M. Ozawa, N. Maedomari, J. Noguchi, K. Ohnuma, andH. Kaneko. (Abstract #280)

12:20 Blastocyst Development From Domestic Cat Oocytes Injected With Dehydrated Spermatozoa.A. Moisan*, S. Leibo, J. Lynn, M. Gómez, C. Pope, K. Bondioli, B. Dresser, and R. Godke. (Ab-stract #356)

12:35 Vitrification Of Porcine Oocytes - A New Approach To Gamete Cryopreservation.M. K. Gupta*, H. Y. Lee, S. J. Uhm, and H. T. Lee. (Abstract #96)

12:50 - 14:00 Lunch Break

IETS Foundation Student CompetitionSession Chair: Ken Bondioli, Louisana State University, USA

14:00 Aberrant DNA Methylation In Porcine In Vitro-, Parthenogenetic-, And Nuclear Transfer-ProducedBlastocysts.A. Bonk*, M. Samuel, L. Lai, Y. Hao, R. Li, Z. Liu, C. Murphy, E. Antoniou, and R. Prather. (Ab-stract #1)

14:15 Identification Of Genes Induced By The Conceptus In The Bovine Endometrium During The Pre-Implantation Period.C. Klein*, S. Bauersachs, B, S. Ulbrich, H. Meyer, S. Schmidt, H. Reichenbach, M. Vermehren, H.Blum, F. Sinowatz, and E. Wolf. (Abstract #2)

14:30 Nuclear Reprogramming Of Porcine Fibroblast Cells By Xenopus Egg Extracts.K. Miyamoto*, Y. Nagao, N. Minami, M. Yamada, K. Ohsumi, and H. Imai. (Abstract #3)

14:45 Gene Expression In Cultures Of Inner Cell Masses Isolated From In Vitro-Produced And In Vivo-Derived Bovine Blastocysts.D. Pant* and C. Keefer. (Abstract #4)

E m b r y o T r a n s f e r N e w s l e t t e r19

15:00 Assessment Of HSP70.1 Transcription Levels In Bovine Embryos After Cumulus Removal ByDifferent Techniques.A. Reeder*, V. Schutzkus, J. Wiebelhaus-Finger, H. Khatib, R. L. Monson, M. B. Wheeler, D.Beebe, and J. Rutledge. (Abstract #5)

15:15 Expression Profiling Of Single Bovine Embryos Reveals Significant Effects Of In Vitro Maturation,Fertilization And Culture.S. L. Smith*, L.-Y. Sung, R. Page, B. Henderson, F. Du, R. E. Everts, T. Nedambale, S. Rodriguez-Zas, J.-P. Renard, H. A. Lewin, X. Yang, and X. C. Tian. (Abstract #6)

15:30 – 16:00 Coffee Break / Exhibition

Session II: Manipulation of the male germ lineSession Chair: Esmail Behboodi, PharmAthene, CanadaSession Co-Chair: Rahul Rathi, University of Pennsylvania, USA

16:00 Male Germ Cell Transplantation in LivestockJon Hill, DVM, PhD, Dip. ACT, CSIRO Livestock Industries F.D. McMaster Laboratory, Australia.

16:40 Sperm-Mediated Gene TransferMarialuisa Lavitrano, PhD, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Milano, Italy.

17:20 Comparative Time-Lapse Studies On Porcine Embryos Fertilized In Vitro With Flow CytometricallySex Sorted Spermatozoa.D. Rath* and S. Schulze, Institute for Animal Breeding, Mariensee, Neustadt, Germany, LS. (Ab-stract #350)

17:35 Microinsemination Using Male Germ Cells From Epididymides And Testes Stored In FreezersWithout Cryoprotectant.N. Ogonuki*, K. Mochida, A. Shinmen, M. Ohkawa, H. Miki, K. Inoue, M. Fray, K. Moriwaki, Y.Obata, and A. Ogura. (Abstract #358)

17:50 In Vitro Culture Of Cd9-Expressing Cells Enriched By Magnetic Cell Sorting From Testes OfCryptorchid Adult And Pup In Mice.T. Mitani*, Y. Tanaka, Y. Ozaki, K. Saeki, K. Kato, K. Matsumoto, Y. Hosoi, and A. Iritani. (Ab-stract #138)

19:00 – 21:00 Poster session I (Student competition finalists and authors of odd numbered abstracts)

Monday, January 9Session III: Sperm, eggs and fertilizationSession Chair: Rebecca Krisher, Purdue University, USASession Co-Chair: Jakob Scherzer, University of Georgia, USA

8:30 Moving to the Beat: A Review of Mammalian Sperm Motility RegulationRegina Turner, VMD, PhD, Dip. ACT, University of Pennsylvania, Kennett Square.

9:10 ICSI, Calcium Release, Egg Activation – Applications in new Reproductive TechnologiesRafael Fissore, DVM, PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

9:50 Regulation of Sperm-Egg Interactions During FertilizationJanice Evans, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School Public Health, Baltimore, MD.

10:30 Detection Of Caspase-3 And -7 In Normal And Slow Developing Bovine In Vitro Embryos.L. Vandaele*, B. Mateusen, D. Maes, and A. Van Soom. (Abstract #180)

December 200520

10:45 Poor Embryo Development After Icsi With Domestic Cat Testicular Sperm Is Overcome By Cen-trosome And Midpiece Replacement.P. Comizzoli*, D. Wildt, and B. Pukazhenthi. (Abstract #354)

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break / Exhibition

11:30 – 13:30 Poster session II (Authors of even numbered abstracts)

13:30 – 14:30 Lunch Break

Session IV: Epigenetics and placental functionSession Chair: John McLaughlin, University of Pennsylvania, USASession Co-Chair: Carol Keefer, University of Maryland, USA

14:30 Gamete Imprinting: Setting Epigenetic Patterns for the Next GenerationJacquetta Trasler, MD, PhD, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

15:10 Placental Function in Development and DiseaseJames (Jay) Cross, DVM, PhD, University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine, Canada.

15:50 Demethylation Of Mammalian Somatic Dna By Xenopus Egg And Oocyte Extracts.Y. Bian*, R. Alberio, A. Johnson, and K. Campbell. (Abstract #121)

16:05 Gene Expression Comparisons Between Bovine In Vivo And Cloned Embryos Produced By ThreeDifferent Methods.N. Ruddock*, K. Wilson, M. Cooney, R. Tecirlioglu, V. Hall, A. French, and M. Holland. (Abstract#68)

16:20 Use Of Porcine Parthenotes And Gene Expression Profiling Using Microarrays For Identification OfImprinted Genes.J. Piedrahita*, S. Bischoff, J. Estrada, B. Freking, D. Nonneman, A. Martin, B. Mir,G. Rohrer, and S. Tsai. (Abstract #263)

16:35 – 17:00 Coffee Break/Exhibition

17:00 – 17:30 IETS-Pioneer Award Presentation

17:30 – 18:15 IETS Annual Business meeting

18:30 – 23:00 Dance at The Groove at Universal Orlando City Walk

19:00 – 21:00 Health And Safety Advisory Committee (HASAC) Open Meeting

Tuesday, January 10Session V: Advances in biotechnology and species conservationSession Chair: Richard Fayrer-Hosken, University of Georgia, USASession Co-Chair: Mats Troedsson, University of Florida, USA

8:30 Emerging Technologies for Species ConservationBudhan S. Pukazhenthi, DVM, PhD, Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park, Washington, DC.

9:10 Equine Cloning: Applications and OutcomesDirk K. Vanderwall, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACT, University of Idaho, Moscow .

9:50 Birth Of A Foal Cloned By Adult Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer With Roscovitine-Treated DonorCells.Y. H. Choi*, Y. G. Chung, D. D. Varner, and K. Hinrichs. (Abstract #29)

E m b r y o T r a n s f e r N e w s l e t t e r21

10:05 Use Of Virus Isulation And Quantitative Polymerase Chain-Reaction Techniques To Detect BovineViroal Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) In Single Or Small Groups Of Pre-Implantation Bovine Embryos.J. Waldrop*, M. Givens, K. Riddell, P. Galik, and D. Stringfellow. (Abstract #214)

10:20 Production Of In Vitro- And In Vivo-Derived Cat Blastocysts For The Establishment Of FelineEmbryonic Stem Cells.J. Kehler*, M. Roelke-Parker, B. Pukazhenthi, W. Swanson, C. Ware, I. Dobrinski, and S. O’Brien.(Abstract #197)

10:35 – 11:00 Coffee Break / Exhibition

11:00 – 12:30 Practitioner Forum: The influence of sperm quality on in vivo and in vitro embryo produc-tionModerators: Gabriel Bo, Argentina and Reuben Mapletoft, CanadaPanel Speakers:

Jacob Thundathil, CanadaHeriberto Rodriguez Martinez, SwedenBrad Stroud, USA

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch Break

13:30 – 14:00 IETS-Distinguished Service Award Presentation

14:00 – 14:45 IETS-Foundation Student Competition awards, CANDES & HASAC Updates

Session VI: Keynote addressSession Chair: Ina Dobrinski, University of Pennsylvania, USA

14:45 Mammalian Diversity: Gametes, Embryos and ReproductionRichard Behringer, PhD, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

15:30 Closing Remarks and invitation to 2007 Annual Conference

16:30 4th IETS Annual Running Competition

December 200522

IETS 2006 Posters GuidelinesPosters can be put up from 16:00 - 18:00 Saturday, January 7, 2006 and from 08:00 – 12:00 on Sunday, January 8,

2006 in the Grand Sierra A, B, C, D & E Ballroom of the Caribe Royale Convention Center and must stay up throughoutthe meeting. Authors of posters that are not put up by 12:00 on Sunday will be reported to the IETS President for possibledisciplinary action (see item 13 below). Poster teardown must take place from 14:30 to 17:00 Tuesday afternoon (January8, 2006). Posters that are not taken down by 17:00 on Tuesday will be taken down and thrown away. The size of theposter boards is 46 inches (116.84 centimeters) wide and 48 inches (121.92 centimeters) high. The poster materials maybe affixed with push pins. The senior author of the poster will be responsible for reimbursing the Program Chairman forany damages to the poster board.Presentation SchedulePoster Session I:Presentation by authors of ‘odd’ numbered abstracts in Reproduction, Fertility and Development 2006; 18(1,2) and theStudent Competition finalist poster presentationsPresentation: Sunday, January 8, 2006 from 19:00 to 21:00

Poster Session II:Presentation by authors of ‘even’ numbered abstracts in Reproduction, Fertility and Development 2006; 18(1,2)Presentation: Monday, January 9, 2006 from 11:30 to 13:30

Ideas for Improving IETS Posters by G. E. Seidel, Jr.Accuracy, efficiency, and ease of communication should be the main criteria in designing posters. Secondary criteria include

aesthetic appeal and variety (such as mixing graphs with tables, use of color, and attention grabbers). There are few rules in preparingposters, so use this flexibility to your advantage. The following suggestions will help to produce a poster that people will read andpossibly remember:1. Allow plenty of time to prepare the poster so that there is time to make corrections or obvious improvements.2. Ask a colleague not directly involved with the material to read the poster and make suggestions.3. The poster title should be in very large letters that can be seen a long distance away (ideally, 8 cm high).4. The names and addresses of authors should be in much smaller letters than the title.5. There is a deplorable tendency to make posters identical to scientific papers. In my opinion, such posters take much too long to

read and assimilate. With rare exceptions, it should be possible to read and understand a poster within 5 to 10 minutes. Longerposters are unfair to those who want to peruse a roomful of 200 – 300 posters, and are ignored by most attendees. Text lettersshould be at least 1 cm high.

6. For posters, lists are preferable to text; tables are preferable to lists; and graphs are preferable to tables. Long and complextables and complicated graphs have no place in posters.

7. A little color adds immensely to posters, particularly graphs; a lot of color or gaudy color is worse than no color at all.8. Some program chairmen request that a copy of the abstract be mounted in the upper left-hand corner of the poster. Usually it is

best to follow the rules, but at IETS, this is redundant because attendees already have a copy of the abstract in the proceedings;furthermore, the style of an abstract is inappropriate for rapid absorption of information.

9. The following parts are absolutely essential for most posters: Introduction (putting work into context), Procedures (materials andmethods), Results (what was found), Interpretation, and Conclusions. Hypotheses often are appropriate or informative, but thisdepends on the nature of the experiment. Minimize abbreviations to one or two per poster. It is very difficult to remember threeor more abbreviations (other than standard ones like FSH) when studying a poster.

10. Most people read the title and conclusions. If these do not pique their interest, they go on to the next poster. Design the partsjust described to be simple and effective. Use English, not jargon.

11. Be creative, but not cute. A good large color photograph frequently adds greatly to a poster; overdoing this can be boring,however.

12. Get the housekeeping right: Poster size, method of attaching materials to poster, lightweight material that travels well and doesn’tfall off the poster board, legible from a distance (suggest boldfaced letters at least 1 cm high), have the poster up (and down) atthe appropriate times (about 1/4 of IETS posters are not up for the entire period assigned to them), and stand by the poster at thecorrect time.

13. If you submit an abstract that is accepted and then do not come to the meeting, send poster materials with a colleague or mailthem to someone going to the meeting. A blank poster board is an egregious insult to the program chairman, who labored hardto evaluate the abstracts, to the scientific society, which paid dearly for the unused poster board, and to the attendees, some ofwhom perused the abstract tiles to determine which posters to be sure to study. These factors are sufficiently important thatIETS keeps a list of authors from previous conferences who submitted abstracts, but did not present a poster; abstracts will nolonger be accepted from scientists who authored or co-authored previous abstracts and failed to put up a poster (without goodcause).

E m b r y o T r a n s f e r N e w s l e t t e r23

PET CLONING SYMPOSIUM

Sponsor: International Embryo Transfer Society

January 6, 2006

Caribe Royale Hotel, Orlando, Florida

· When: Friday, January 6, 2006, 8:00am-12:30 pm· Where: Caribe Royale Hotel, Orlando, Florida· Audience: Veterinary practitioners and others interested in Pet Cloning· Continuing Education Credits for the Veterinarians will be offered.· Exclusive Web access to annotated PowerPoint presentations for 6 months.· Registration fee: $250 – Limited to 300.

Objective: This symposium was designed to provide Veterinary practitioners with an up-to-date view of therealities of cloning pets. We have invited some of the world’s experts in the cloning field. The symposiumwill provide “state-of-the art’ presentations as well as ample opportunity for dialog and interaction withthe speakers.

Program

8:00-8:15 am Introduction

8:15-9:00 am The role of the oocyte in cloning.Dr. Keith Campbell, University of Nottingham, U.K.

9:00-9:45 am How identical will clones be with donors and each other?Dr. George Seidel, Colorado State University

9:45-10:15 am Break

10:15-11:00 am Costs, logistics, legal issues, prospects of tissue collection and cloning.Dr. Charles Long, Texas A&M University

11:00-11:45 am State of the art and the ethics of pet cloning.Dr. Barbara Durrant, San Diego Zoo

11:45-12:30 pm Panel Discussion and Q & A.

12:30 pm Adjourn

December 200524

Preconference Satellite SymposiumCHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR

IN VIVO EMBRYO PRODUCTION IN CATTLECaribe Royale Hotel, Orlando, Florida

Saturday, January 7, 2006Bonaire 2/3/4

Sponsored by Bioniche Animal Health

Scientific Program

8:00 AM Opening remarks – Martin Warmelink, Bioniche Animal Health

8:15 AM Introductory comments - Dr. George Seidel, Moderator, Colorado State University

8:30 AM The Holstein cow in embryo transfer today as compared to 20 years agoDr. John Hasler, Bioniche Animal Health USA, Inc.

9:15 AM Changes in reproductive physiology of lactating dairy cows due to elevated steroid metabolismDr. Milo Wiltbank, University of Wisconsin, Madison

10:00 AM Coffee break

10:30 AM Strategies for improving fertility in the modern dairy cowDr. Bill Thatcher, University of Florida, Gainesville

11:15 AM Manipulation and control of the estrous cycle in pasture-based dairy cowsDr. John Cavaleri, Australia

12:00 PM Lunch

1:30 PM Dissecting why superovulation and embryo transfer usually work on some farms and not othersDr. Brad Stroud, Stroud Veterinary Embryo Service, Weatherford, TX

2:15 PM Coffee Break

2:45 PM The timing of ovulation, and insemination schedules in superstimulated cattleDr. Gabriel Bo, IRAC, Cordoba, Argentina

3:30 PM Superovulation and embryo transfer in Bos indicus cattleDr. Pietro Baruselli, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

4:15 PM Effects of hormonal stimulation on bovine follicular response and oocyte developmental competence in acommercial operationDr. Jean Durocher, Boviteq, Quebec

5:00 PM General discussion

6:00 PM Cocktail and snacks

Included in the registration fee is an issue of Theriogenology with the published proceedings of both this pre-conference and the post-conference symposium. Also included in registration are a coffee break mid morningand a coffee break in the afternoon.

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Preconference Satellite SymposiumPrimate ART to ES CellsCaribe Royale Hotel, Orlando, Florida

Saturday, January 7, 2006Curacao 2/3/4

Program8:30am Opening Remarks and Welcome

Don Wolf, Oregon National Primate Research Center, Beaverton, OR

8:45 - 09:30am The PREGER resource for analysis of primate stem cellsKeith Latham, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

9:30 – 10:15am Genomic imprinting in non-human primate ES cellsShoukhrat Mitalipov, OHSU/ONPRC, Beaverton, OR

10:15 – 10:35am Break

10:35 – 11:20am Microarray analysis of gene expression in monkey ES cellsRobert Norgren, University of Nebraska, Omaha

11:20 – 12:05pm Parthenogenetic stem cells for treatment of neurological diseasesJose Cibelli, Advanced Cell Technology, Worcester, MA

12:05 – 12:20pm General discussion

12:20 – 1:30pm Lunch

1:30 – 2:15pm Toward feeder cell and serum free ES cell cultureOuti Hovatta, Karolinska Institute, Stockhom, Sweden

2:15 – 3:00pm The mitochondrial contribution to stem cell biologyBarry Bavister, University of New Orleans, LA

3:00 – 3:20pm Break

3:20 – 4:05pm Opportunities and challenges in human embryonic stem cell researchSteve Stice, University of Georgia, Athens

4:05 – 4:50pm Prospects for nuclear transfer production of stem cells for replacement therapiesKeith Campbell, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, United Kingdom

4:50 – 5:30pm Summary and General DiscussionDon Wolf

Included in the registration fee are a coffee break mid morning, lunch and a coffee break in the afternoon.

December 200526

Preconference Writer’s Workshop

Workshop for AuthorsPublishing Scientific Papers

in English

Caribe Royale Hotel, Orlando, FloridaSaturday, January 7 and Sunday, January 8

Bonaire 5

Presented byJohn P. Kastelic, DVM, PhD, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Theriogenology

Rose M. Kastelic, BA (French), MA

Many manuscripts are delayed or rejected due to poor experimental design, analysis and presentation of data, andwriting. This workshop is an overview of how to plan and conduct research, analyze and present your data, write apaper, and interact with editors and reviewers. In addition to presentations of principles and common errors, there willbe exercises and interactive discussions.

This workshop is primarily designed for those for whom English is a second language. Therefore, English syntax,grammar and punctuation will be reviewed. However, this workshop will also be valuable for those for whom English istheir native language, especially students and young scientists.

This is a Pre-Conference workshop (in association with the 2006 IETS conference). The workshop will be held inthe Caribe Royale (IETS conference hotel) in Orlando Florida on Saturday, 7 January (8:00 to 17:00) and Sunday, 8January (8:00 to 12:00).

Class size is limited to the first 20 participants. Registration fees are payable to IETS via the registration form.The On-Site registration fee is US$150 for IETS members and US$250 for non-members (if space is available).Student registration is US$75, pre-paid or at the door. The registration fee does not include meals.

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Post Conference Satellite SymposiumRealizing the Promise of IVF in Cattle:

Optimizing Embryonic and Fetal SurvivalJanuary 11, 2006

Caribe Royale Hotel, Orlando, FloridaGrand Sierra B

AGENDA8:30 - 8:45 AM P.J. Hansen, University of Florida.Welcome and overview of the situation.Transferring a Better EmbryoMasashi Takahashi, National Agric. Research Centerfor Kyushu Okinawa Region, Chair8:45 - 9:15 AM Mark André Sirard, Laval Univ.Contribution of the oocyte to embryo quality.9:15 - 9:45 AM Patrick E. Lonergan, UniversityCollege Dublin. Effect of culture environment on geneexpression and developmental characteristics in IVF-derived embryos.9:45-10:15 AM P. Maddox-Hytell, Royal Vet. AgricUniv. Copenhagen. Post-hatching development of theporcine and bovine Embryo – defining criteria forexpected development in vivo and in vitro.10:15 - 10:45 AM BREAKErrors in Embryonic and Fetal DevelopmentContributing to Pregnancy LossAlan D. Ealy, University of Florida, Chair10:45 - 11:15 AM W.A. King, Univ. of Guelph. Impactof chromosomal alterations on embryo development.11:15 - 11:45 AM Peter Farin, North Carolina StateUniversity. Errors in fetal development.Managing the Recipient to Increase PregnancyRate Following TransferGabriel Bó, Instituto de Reproducción AnimalCórdoba, Chair1:15 - 1:45 PM J. Vasconcelos, Univ. Estadual de SaoPaolo, Botucatu. Factors potentially affecting fertility ofrecipient dairy cows.1:45 PM - 2:15 PM Charles Looney, Ovagenix.Improv-ing fertility of recipient beef cows.2:15- 2:30 PM BREAK

The Importance of the SpermatozoanAmir Niasari-Naslaji, University of Tehran, Chair2:30 - 3:00 PM C.M. Barros. Univ. Estadual de SaoPaolo, Botucatu. Importance of sperm genotype(indicus vs taurus) for fertility and embryonic develop-ment at elevated temperatures.3:00 - 3:30 PM Matthew B. Wheeler, University ofIllinois. Application of sexed semen technology to invitro embryo production in cattle.3:45 - 4:00 PM BREAKCryopreservationAndras Dinnyes, Hungarian Acad. of Sciences,Chair4:00 - 4:30 PM George Seidel, Colorado State Univ.Modifying oocytes and embryos destined for cryo-preservation.4:30 - 5:00 PM Gabor Vajta, Danish Inst. Agric. Sci.Improving cryopreservation systems.Panel - Where Do We Go From Here5:00 - 5:45 PM - Don Bennink, North Florida Holst-eins; Luis Ferre, Transova Genetics, Ricardo Mattos,Monsanto Corp.

Sponsor

Included in the registration fee is an issue ofTheriogenology with the published proceedings ofboth this post-conference and the pre-conferencesymposium.

December 200528

Post Conference Tour/Ticket Opportunities

Tour of The Center for Elephant Conservation10:00 AM, Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey has graciously agreed to host a tour of its Center for Elephant Conservation for alimited number of IETS attendees (see http://www.ringling.com/cec/).

To help preserve the Indian Elephant for future generations, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® established in 1995the 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC) in central Florida. The $5-million state-of-the-art breeding andretirement facility is dedicated to the conservation, breeding, and study of the Asian elephant. As a global focal point forthe worldwide study of the Asian elephant, the CEC is committed to share its knowledge with the rest of the scientificcommunity.

Attendees will leave by van or car from the hotel main entrance at 10:00 AM and return to the hotel in the afternoon.

Attendance is limited to 20 persons. Priority will be given to those with interests in zoo animal reproduction. To makearrangements to attend, please contact Pete Hansen at Hansen@animal.ufl.edu.

See The Greatest Show on Earth®!

7:30 PM, Thursday, January 12, 2006

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® has graciously agreed to provide up to 50 free tickets for IETS attendees toopening night of 136th Edition of the Ringling Bros. Circus at the Orlando Centroplex.

Packed full of surprises, this all-new Ringling Bros. breaks circus tradition with high-speed action, cutting-edge technol-ogy, and an interactive adventure that is sure to keep you talking for generations.

See http://www.ringling.com/schedule/schedule.aspx?id=94515 for more details.

The number of tickets available is 50. Attendees will be responsible for their own transportation. To order tickets,please contact Pete Hansen at Hansen@animal.ufl.edu.