Turin, Italy
February 11, 2005
A bulk of knowledge about human embryo has been obtained in the last twenty years in IVF science. Surprisingly, it has not been paralleled by a similar knowledge on the human oocyte, despite it is widely recognized that embryogenesis is deeply affected by oocyte quality. The main reason for this is probably that all mature oocytes are currently used to get fertilization in IVF, and selection is applied to embryos in order to choose the best among them to be transferred in uterus. This widely practiced “embryo selection” has prevented the need to acquire skills in “oocyte selection”. However in some countries, new laws and rules on IVF are forcing doctors to move toward oocyte selection and the need to identify valid tools to select the best oocytes to be used for fertilization is increasing. This training course focused on the morphological and genetic criteria that have been proposed for oocyte selection, as well as on specific procedures involving human oocytes, like oocyte cryopreservation and in vitro maturation.
OBJECTIVES
At the end of this training course the participants were able to:
- Identify the morphological and genetic criteria suitable for the selection of the top quality human oocytes;
- Get knowledge about human oocyte cryopreservation techniques and clinical results;
- Discuss the clinical applications of in vitro maturation of human oocytes.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Scientists and clinicians in reproductive medicine benefited from this training course.
Serono Symposia International Foundation (www.seronosymposia.org) has submitted the following CME activity for accreditation by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME). The EACCME is an institution of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), www.uems.net.
This program "The human oocyte, genetics, cell signalling and in-vitro manipulation" (Turin, Italy, February 11, 2005) has been approved by EACCME for a maximum of 6 (six) hours of European external CME credits. Each medical specialist should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.
The Italian National Commission for Continuing Medical Education has accredited this Serono Symposia International Foundation event, n.10045- 173809, entitled “The Human oocyte: genetics, cell signalling and in-vitro manipulation” (11 Febbraio 2005, Torino, Italia) for N. 5 (Five) CME credits.
