In collaboration with the Advanced Breeding Team at Tyndale Veterinary Practice Ltd. U.K., IVF Bioscience welcomed delegates from the EU and the UK, to be trained in the skills to successfully develop in vitro produced (IVP) bovine embryos; from immature oocytes right up to the blastocyst stage.
Attendees were invited to experience first-hand the day-to-day running of a successful commercial bovine OPU-IVP provider and received hands-on training covering each aspect of the IVP protocol, as well as some theoretical classroom sessions.
Bovine IVF Course Structure
DAY ONE:
Firstly, attendees were given a tour of the facilities and introduced to Quality Assurance and Laboratory Management. Slaughterhouse ovaries were then aspirated before the oocytes were searched in a dish and cultured in maturation medium overnight.
DAY TWO:
Following overnight culture, oocyte maturation was assessed via cumulus cell expansion and viscoelasticity.
Sperm quality (from both conventional and sex-sorted straws) was also assessed for motility and concentration, before being washed and introduced to the matured oocytes, for overnight fertilisation.
Meanwhile, blastocysts that had been cultured one week prior to the course were assessed and graded in accordance with the IETS guidelines.
Attendees were then introduced to the importance of record keeping and labelling for commercial IVF embryos, to comply with UK regulations. The blastocysts from the previous week were loaded into straws, so that they could be slow-frozen prior to being stored in liquid nitrogen.
DAY THREE:
Presumptive zygotes from the previous day were assessed for fertilisation rates and denuded of their cumulus cells prior to being cultured in our non-sequential culture medium, BO-IVC, for seven days.
OUTCOME:
The purpose of the bovine IVF training course was to introduce the basic aspects of IVP, upskill attendees’ laboratory skills and improve their confidence in handling gametes and embryos in the IVF laboratory.
The course was well received, and attendees felt that the sessions equipped them with the knowledge and skills to further their understanding of OPU-IVP and support the use of these technologies in their respective countries.
As the demand for bovine IVP training increases, IVF Bioscience is looking forward to hosting training courses in collaboration with Tyndale Veterinary Practice in the upcoming months. There are still limited spaces available on our 2022 training courses, so book your place today.
What did attendees think of the course?
All delegates rated the course as “Excellent” in terms of organisation, content, and overall satisfaction. As one of the delegates commented, “The whole IVF laboratory course offered was extremely useful for us”.
Equine OPU/ICSI Training in the USA:
In addition to the bovine IVP training sessions, IVF Bioscience is collaborating with Drs Chelsey Leisinger and Carlos Pinto at Louisiana State University, to deliver Equine OPU-ICSI training courses in the USA. The course we ran last November was, we believe, the first of its kind to be held in the USA.
