From Nov. 15-18, 2018, the Foundation for Reproductive Medicine will host its third annual FRM Conference. Hosted at the New York Marriott East Side in New York City, the 2018 FRM Conference will feature pre-conference workshops Nov. 15 and the main scientific program from Nov. 16-18.
Aimed toward clinical fertility specialists, reproductive and medical endocrinologists, OB/GYNs and scientists in general, the program encourages attendees to think differently about the evolving paradigms in reproductive biology and clinical reproductive medicine.
Here, a preview of everything attendees of the 2018 Foundation for Reproductive Medicine Conference need to know.
Pre-FRM Conference Workshops
Thursday, Nov. 15
Two workshops will take place concurrently from 2-3:45 p.m.
The first will delve into the use of donor eggs in women of advanced reproductive age or with low-functional ovarian reserve. Speakers will specifically discuss worldwide donor-egg utilization trends, whether patients or their doctors should decide if they use donor eggs and how to treat them with their own eggs.
Antral follicles seen with SonoAVCantral
The second will debate the use of add-ons during IVF cycles and whether or not patients would benefit from returning to the fundamentals. Speakers will discuss IVF lab basics, how preimplantation genetics screening/preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGS/PGT-A) impacts IVF outcomes and the merits of closed incubation with time-lapse and other add-ons.
Two additional workshops will take place concurrently from 4:15-6 p.m.
The first will address IVF cycle management. Speakers will discuss the results of a study recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine that found fresh and frozen embryo transfers are equally effective. Additional presentations include the impact of fresh versus frozen donor eggs and vitrification versus slow-freezing on cycle outcomes.
Ultrasound image of stimulated ovary
The second will explore new ways to examine embryos at pre- and post-implantation stages. Speakers will cover 3D imaging technology that enables monitoring embryos as they implant, other tools to help understand early embryo development and assessing the aneuploidy of blastocysts.
3D ultrasound image of early pregnancy (triplets)
Main Scientific Program
The FRM conference offers too many talks to review them all, but here are some highlights.
Friday, Nov. 16
Evelyn E. Telfer, Ph.D., will speak from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. about her research pertaining to recapitulating the process of in-vitro oogenesis starting from primordial germ cells (PGCs) and stem cells in mice and humans.
The lunch-break debate will take place from 1-2 p.m. Dr. Norbert Gleicher will moderate a discussion between Dr. Nicole Noyes and Dr. Vitaly A. Kushnir, who will review whether preventative egg freezing in young women is effective.
Nathan R. Treff, Ph.D., will explain the purpose of PGS/PGT-A from 2:30-3 p.m., followed by an analysis of its shortcomings by Dr. Raoul Orvieto from 3-3:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 17
Marc-André Sirard, Ph.D., will speak from 9-9:30 a.m. about his gene expression research. By comparing the granulosa cells obtained from 200 IVF patients, he found 165 genes — including many related to inflammation — were expressed differently depending on whether women were pregnant.
The lunch break debate will take place from 12:15-1:15 p.m. Dr. David H. Barad will moderate a discussion between Dr. Eli Y. Adashi and Dr. Gleicher. Dr. Adashi will argue that egg donation should be strongly encouraged if the patient is above the age 42 and/or follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is 15.0-20.0 mIU/mL, while Dr. Gleicher will contend it should always be the patient's choice.
From 1:55-2:15 p.m., Dr. Barad will describe how his clinic addresses the problem of premature luteinization and rapid atresia as women age. Although the current solution involves early retrieval and further maturation in the laboratory with continued exposure to granulosa cells, he will also talk about the future of in-vitro maturation.
Dr. Kushnir will speak from 2:15-2:35 p.m. about highly individualized egg retrievals, with a focus on pregnancy rates and molecular markers of premature luteinization in patients undergoing very early retrieval.
Sunday, Nov. 18
From 11:20-11:40 a.m., Dr. Andrea Weghofer will evaluate current evidence on the impact of platelet-rich plasma on endometrial and follicular development and report the preliminary results of a study that addresses this issue.
