Omics has been a hot topic in the 21st century; Genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, lipidomics, etc. Nevertheless, omics hasn’t been without its challenges in terms of technical developments. For many scientists, the amount of data generated from most omics studies has been overwhelming. It has become indispensable in biology to have bioinformatic skills, which adds …
Sex chromosomes are important for the development of sperm and egg cells in mammals. In mice, reproductive cells start off as the same type of cell and then develop differently depending on the biological niche they are in. In the case of males (XY), primordial germ cells (PGCs) develop into sperm and in females (XX), …
For young boys with cancer or a non-malignant hematological disorder, conditioning therapy, abdominal/pelvic radiotherapy, and certain chemotherapies form a major risk for germ cell loss. Contradictory studies have investigated the direct effects of such diseases on the development of the prepubertal male gonad before mainline treatment. For health professionals to counsel pediatric patients in the …
Kodai Hirano, Yuta Nonami, Yoshiaki Nakamura, Toshiyuki Sato, Takuya Sato, Keiichiro Ishiguro, Takehiko Ogawa, *Shosei Yoshida Background Spermatogenesis in mammals is a temperature-sensitive developmental process that occurs at a few degrees below the core body temperature of 38 °C. Elevated testis temperatures disrupt spermatogenesis at various phases, leading to male infertility. Artificial cryptorchidism, which involves surgically …
Get to know our first invited speaker to the upcoming 15th NYRA Meeting in Caux (June 17th-18th) through this ‘tête-à-tête’. Dr Stukenborg obtained his PhD at the Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology (CeRA) in Münster, Germany, after which he joined the Karolinska Institutet for as a post-doctoral researcher. Currently Dr Stukenborg is a senior …
During the differentiation phase at the spermiogenesis (the last phase of the spermatogenesis), haploid round spermatids undergo an extreme morphological remodelling of nuclear and cytoplasmic structures. Nonetheless, while testicular sperm are morphologically specialized cells, they are not functional and lack both the ability to swim and fertilize. Hence, sperm maturation in the epididymis is therefore …
Human semen quality is remarkably poor, with a reduced efficiency of spermatogenesis. Studies revealed that latter complex process has undergone rapid evolutionary changes. Male infertility is increasing which leads to a concomitant higher demand of assisted reproductive technologies. As other primates have not experienced the same decreasing fertility, a multicenter study sought to uncover the …
The 12th European Congress of Andrology took place from October 19th to October 21st in Barcelona, Spain, and once again NYRA hosted a session with talks from selected younger researchers. Under the expert moderation of Alberto and Daniel from the NYRA board, Yoni Baert (Belgium) introduced us to testicular organoids and their potential in i.e., …
Gamete fusion is the union of two haploid cells (sperm and egg) resulting in fertilisation and embryo development. In mice, this fundamental process is depended on the presence of the egg receptor on the sperm membrane (IZUMO1) and the sperm receptor on the egg membrane (JUNO). While the relevance of this sperm-egg receptors interaction is …
The 14th international NYRA meeting took place from September 20th to September 21st, 2022, in Norwich, United Kingdom. 31 participants from UK, Croatia, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, France, Poland, and Belgium joined this meeting at the University of East Anglia (UEA), which is a part of the Norwich Research Park, one of Europe’s biggest communities of researchers in …
After primordial germ cells (PGCs) have colonized the gonadal ridge at roughly 3–5 weeks post conception (WPC), two successive development stages are observed during male gonadogenesis: sex determination of the bipotential gonads and testis differentiation. At 6 WPC, the SRY gene becomes expressed in the bipotent supporting cells in the gonadal coelomic epithelium, ventral to …
To wrap up the ‘tête-à-tête’ series on speakers from the 14th NYRA Meeting in Norwich, we here present the tête-à-tête with Simone Immler. Simone Immler is a Professor of Genetics and Reproduction at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Prof. Immler earned her MSc from the University of Basel, Switzerland, …
Get to know another invited speaker to the upcoming 14th NYRA Meeting in Norwich (September 19th-21st) through this ‘tête-à-tête’. Dr. Antoine Molaro studied Biology, did his Ph.D. at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (NY, USA), and moved to Seattle (WA, USA) as Postdoctoral Fellow at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Molaro is currently a …
We bring you the opportunity to get to know another invited speaker to the upcoming 14th NYRA Meeting in Norwich (September 19th-21st) through this ‘tête-à-tête’. Dr. Sandra Laurentino studied Biochemistry and did her PhD in Biomedicine at the University of Beira Interior in her native Portugal. Right afterwards she move to Germany to join the …
We bring you the opportunity to get to know another invited speaker to the upcoming 14th NYRA Meeting in Norwich (September 19th-21st) through this ‘tête-à-tête’. Andrea has over 20 years’ experience helping people build healthy mindsets and emotionally-intelligent relationships at work, home and school. She is a highly experienced trainer, a qualified Parent and Youth …
We bring you the opportunity to get to know another invited speaker to the upcoming 14th NYRA Meeting in Norwich (September 19th-21st) through this ‘tête-à-tête’. We bring you the opportunity to get to know another invited speaker to the upcoming 14th NYRA Meeting in Norwich (September 19th-21st) through this ‘tête-à-tête’.
Testicular cryopreservation is an experimental method used to preserve gonadal tissue of pre-pubertal boys or men whose fertility is likely to be compromised due to chemotherapy treatment. A recent study on rats shows that viable sperm can be produced from cryopreserved spermatogonial stem cells (SSC) after 23 years of storage – a discovery that offers …
This time we bring an interview to get to know another of our invited speakers at the 14th NYRA meeting, which will take place in Norwich from 19-21st of September 2022. Kristian Almstrup is a Senior Scientist at Copenhagen University Hospital – Rigshospitalet, where he serves as a research leader at the Department of Growth and Reproduction. …
Many thousands of genes are required for male fertility in mammals. In the testis, these genes govern the diverse individual processes of mitosis, meiosis and spermiogenesis, which are ultimately required to generate sperm. During this latter process of spermiogenesis, round spermatids undergo a complete remodelling to generate a sperm tail for motility, sculpt the nucleus …
This time we bring an interview to get to know our first invited speaker at the 14th NYRA meeting, which will take place in Norwich from 19-21st of September 2022. Dr. Raheleh Rahbari obtained her PhD in Medical Genetics at the University of Leicester, after which she joined the Wellcome Sanger Institute as a post-doctoral …
Sperm has classically been perceived as a vehicle of the male genome to the zygote. However, thanks to the application of high-throughput technologies to study the male gamete, it is now known that this small cell is much more complex than a simple DNA carrier. The sperm cell contains, besides the paternal genome, a great …
The general understanding of fertilization is the fusion of two haploid gametes, the spermatozoon, and the oocyte, to form a diploid cell that goes through the multiple cell division and cell differentiation events of embryo development. However, recent research has pushed this understanding. Parthenogenesis, also known as virgin births, is another way of embryo development …
Testis tissue is very complex and heterogeneous as it is made up of several somatic (Leydig, Sertoli, peritubular myoid cells and others) and germ cell types (spermatogonia, spermatocytes and spermatids). Due to the high number of different cell types, histological and molecular studies have always been challenging. As an example, the use of bulk RNA …
Prof. Ellen Goossens from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), in cooperation with the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZ Brussel), received the ethical approval to re-implant previously frozen testicular tissue in male cancer survivors who lost their fertility because of childhood cancer treatments. If successful, sperm cells will develop in the implanted tissue to restorethe fertility ofthese patients. Childhood cancer survival rates …
ANDRONET, the biggest running European network in andrology, aims to increase research collaboration, education, and public awareness in male reproductive health. It was born within a social context of worst reproductive outcomes, tightly related with the male factor, in which establishing strong connections between clinicians and researchers is essential to tackle a problem with such …
We are delighted to invite you to join us in the 14th NYRA Meeting taking place on September 19th-21st 2022, at University of East Anglia in Norwich in the United Kingdom. This last year has been a challenging time. The coronavirus pandemic has caused severe disruptions and obstacles to research as well as affected all …
Registration Abstract submission 13th NYRA Meeting: REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! Due to the COVID-19 worldwide situation, for the health and safety of the attendees, the 13th NYRA Meeting has been postponed to next May 29th-30th, 2021 and will take place as a Virtual Meeting. Don’t miss this opportunity to join the young researcher community! Submitting your …
Boys receiving gonadotoxic treatment (e.g. chemo- or radiotherapy) before puberty face the possibility of being infertile when they reach adulthood due to the loss of germ cells. As mature spermatozoa are not present, the only fertility preservation strategy currently offered involves the cryopreservation of immature testis tissue (ITT) containing spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). Auto-transplantation of …
By CONSTANZE MARESCH It is our great pleasure to announce the 12th NYRA Meeting, that will be held in Giessen, Germany, on September 23rd – 24th 2019. This year the meeting will be held adjacent to the 6th International Workshop on Molecular Andrology (https://www.uni-giessen.de/fbz/fb11/institute/anatomie/molandrol2019) and the 50th Anniversary of the Department of Urology in Giessen. …