Another New Year and another IETS conference, this time – Thai style! January saw the IVF Bioscience team and approximately 380 attendees head to the city of Bangkok for the 44th Annual Conference of the International Embryo Technology Society: what a great way to kick-off 2018.
The IVF Bioscience team began their trip to Thailand with a series of visits to animal reproduction facilities in the local area. In addition to visiting a number of bovine IVF laboratories with our local distributor, Envimed, we were also invited to present a lecture at Suraneree University of Technology. We were privileged to meet Professor Rangsun from the University, who spoke on the history of cattle breeding and the latest techniques available, and following this our Scientific Advisor Dr Lotte Stroebech delivered a presentation on bovine IVF which detailed laboratory standards and protocols. The event was attended by a diverse audience from both the academic and commercial sectors and we were rewarded by a strong interest in the subject and a lively Q & A session.
We then joined the rest of the IETS attendees heading to the Shangri-La riverside hotel – our venue for the following days of talks, forums and discussions. The IVF Bioscience stand was again a popular stop-off for those visiting the hall. We’re always hearing new questions at the conferences we attend, and this years’ IETS meeting was no exception. Some of the top questions included:
Q. Do you offer any support or training to your customers?
A. Yes, this has always been a huge part of what we do. Our experts have a very high level of knowledge, and have been active in the field of animal IVF for many years, so we are perfectly placed to offer you the guidance and support to set up your own lab, improve your rates, and train new staff. If you’d like to find out more about becoming an IVF Bioscience customer, and the support this would mean for you, please contact us today at sales@ivfbioscience.com.
Q. Do any of these products contain serum?
A. No, definitely not. Every product in the range is serum free. We instead use BSA and a synthetic serum replacement. This minimises the risk of inconsistency between serum batches, and more importantly the likelihood of abnormal offspring syndrome, a real issue for those still using serum in their systems.
Q. Do you have products for ET?
Yes! Several of our products are suitable for ET applications. Our most popular product in this market is our BO-Transfer medium. BO-Transfer is particularly useful as a medium for the overnight incubation of lower grade ET embryos, allowing their viability to be reliably determined following a few extra hours of development. This has proven to be a highly valuable addition to the workflow of Dr Glenn Engelland, who spoke on his findings at the AETA-CETA/ACTE meeting at the end of 2017.
Q. Can I have one of your mugs?
A. Of course the answer is yes! However, watch this space for our new-look mug, landing at a conference near you soon…
A particular highlight of the conference was the well-attended Practitioner’s Forum. This 2 hour session saw 4 groups engage in round-table discussions on the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of the four main reproductive technologies – artificial insemination (AI), multiple ovulation and embryo transfer (MOET), in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and cloning. The IVF table proved so popular that a table extension was required to fit everyone around! This bias also seemed to reflect the views of those partaking in the discussions, with IVF, alongside genetic selection, seen as the key technologies for the future of animal breeding.
We’re here to help – If you’ve been inspired to try IVF and would like to learn more about our consulting and training options; are already conducting IVF and are considering switching to our media; or would like to try some BO-Transfer for incubating ET embryos, then the next step is get in touch – just fill out our contact form and one of the team will respond to you soon.
IVF Bioscience would like to thank the organising committee – particularly Debi Seymour – for putting together this year’s conference. We look forward to seeing you all again at the 2019 Conference in New Orleans!
