On Thursday, July 11th, we held our first Lunch talk meeting on the future of human reproduction and reproductive techniques. The meeting was initiated and chaired by Mandy Spaan together with the AR&D team. The program included a presentation by an international guest speaker and two speakers from AR&D. The meeting aimed to share new knowledge about human reproduction and assisted reproductive techniques, but also to meet each other and increase opportunities for collaboration.
The future of human reproductive techniques and it’s safety
The meeting started with a presentation by postdoc and epidemiologist Mandy Spaan, who guided us through her journey from receiving an AR&D grant to an international research collaboration. Her research focuses on various long-term health outcomes in children conceived through assisted reproductive technologies, using national cohort data. Prof. Michael Davies, a reproductive epidemiologist from the University of Adelaide, Australia, shed light on research into the safety of assisted reproductive technologies and future prospects. In his presentation he emphasized the importance of long-term follow-up research, transparency and open science. Finally, Geert Hamer, associate professor, shared his intriguing work on the development of in vitro spermatogenesis, showing us the successes and difficulties of in vitro spermatogenesis, while taking into account the safety aspects when developing a new treatment.
Dr. Mandy Spaan, Prof. Michael Davies, and Dr. Geert Hamer
Guest speaker prof. Michael Davies
Network lunch
After the presentations there was a delicious lunch and time to get in touch with each other. It was good to see that many participants enjoyed the lunch meeting and exchanged new research ideas with each other.
Want to organize an AR&D Lunch talk meeting?
AR&D is open to initiatives to support future lunch meetings. If you know of interesting speakers within our institute, in the Netherlands or abroad, please feel free to contact the AR&D office: arandd@amsterdamumc.nl