Beatriz Fernandez Fuertes

Regulation of the maternal environment by paternal factors: Insights from the bovine model

Beatriz Fernandez Fuertes is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Agricultural and Food Research in Spain. Her broad scientific interest is the male aspect of fertility in livestock: in particular, how interactions between male factors and the maternal environment shape successful pregnancy. After obtaining her degree in veterinary medicine from the Complutense University of Madrid in 2012, Fernandez Fuertes joined the laboratory of Dr. Pat Lonergan at University College Dublin. There, she completed her PhD in reproductive biology in 2016 and was then awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship investigating different aspects of bull sperm function. In 2018, she was granted a European Commission Marie Curie Individual Fellowship at the University of Girona to study maternal-paternal interactions in cattle. In 2020 she joined the laboratory of Dr. Dimitrios Rizos, where her research continues to focus on this topic.

Guillaume Domain

Can single-layer centrifugation with Canicoll improve semen freezability in dogs?

Guillaume Domain is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Ghent University, Belgium. Domain graduated as a doctor of veterinary medicine at Liège University, Belgium, in 2017 and joined Ghent University in 2018 after completing a clinical rotational internship in the small animal department. His PhD focuses on canine andrology and, more precisely, on the improvement of semen cryopreservation and fertility prediction. Parallel to his PhD, Domain is also a resident of the European College of Animal Reproduction.

Giovana Di Donato Catandi,

Colorado State University (USA)

How does mare age affect oocyte metabolic and developmental competence?

Giovana Di Donato Catandi is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University under Dr Elaine Carnevale. Giovana graduated as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2016. She worked as a research assistant at the University of Minnesota in 2017 under Dr Rafael Bisinotto, where her research focused on investigating the impact of hoof lesions on reproductive success in dairy cows. She joined the Colorado State University Equine Reproduction Lab in 2017 where she is currently researching how mare conditions, such as aging and obesity, affect oocyte metabolic function and developmental potential. She is also interested in investigating the potential of dietary supplementation in mitigating those effects and ultimately improving fertility outcomes of older and obese mares.

Katrien Smits, Ghent University (Belgium)

OPU-ICSI in the horse: An update

Katrien Smits is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Ghent (Belgium). Katrien graduated as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2006 and completed her Ph.D. in 2010 on equine in vitro embryo production with emphasis on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) at Ghent University. The focus of Katrien's postdoc is on unraveling embryo-maternal interactions and optimizing assisted biotechnology techniques in the horse. Among the achievements of Katrien's research: SMICSI, the first ICSI-foal in Belgium, and VICSI, the first foal resulting from ICSI of a vitrified immature oocyte. Katrien is the author of 40 peer-reviewed A1 publications and is the mentor of several masters and Ph.D. students.