Events: 1st Int. Congress on Controversies in Cryopreservation of Stem Cells, Reproductive Cells, Tissue and
Organs(CRYO)Valencia, Spain, April 22-25, 2010
 
 
 

 

Welcome to the

1st International Congress on Controversies in Cryopreservation of Stem Cells, Reproductive Cells, Tissue and Organs (CRYO)

Valencia, Spain, April 22-25, 2010

 
     

 

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About the IZW

Dear Colleague,

Welcome Note Print Dear Friends and Colleagues, In recent years the field of Cryopreservation has witnessed enormous expansion in clinical and basic data. Conferences are becoming more and more informative but there is often only limited time for thorough discussion. There seems to be a gap between the enormous expansion of knowledge in the field of cryopreservation and the dissemination of that knowledge. This development has created a great need to debate the many controversial issues and crystallize them into clinical conclusions.

This controversies Congress stems from the fact that current congresses fail to promote true clinical discussion between practicing physicians and researchers on unresolved pressing issues.

Allowing ample time for speaker-audience discussion, the congress aims at reaching up-to-date and agreed-upon answers to ongoing debates even when proof is lacking, through evidence-based medicine and expert opinion.

The purpose of the Cryopreservation of Stem cells, Reproductive Cells, Tissues and Organs Congress is to disseminate information in our field by debating the multiple controversial issues and reaching consensus when possible.

We invite you to take part in The First International Congress on Controversies in Cryopreservation of Stem cells, Reproductive cells, Tissue and Organs (CRYO) which will be a milestone for future congresses.

We look forward to an exciting scientific event in the beautiful city of Valencia.

T. Hildebrandt, A. Arav, A. Pellicer, Z. Shoham, S. Slavin, G. Stacey

 

Topics to be discussed

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Freezing, vitrification and freeze drying:  The basic principles

Stem cell – preservation of future medicine
  • Somatic cells into stem cells
  • Adult stem cells into embryonic stem cells
  • Somatic cells into gametes 
  • The ethics of manufacturing gametes in the lab!
  • The therapeutic potential of stem cells
  • Different source of stem cells: embryonic vs adult
  • Stem cells and drug development
  • Freezing vs fresh adult stem cells
  • Freezing embryonic stem cells
  • Stem cells from Amniotic Fluid – is the potential the same?
 

Freezing of stem cells – various techniques

  • Vitrification embryonic stem cells
  • Freezing embryonic stem cells of domestic animal
  • Safety and feasibility of stem cell following cryopreservation
  • Preclinical and clinical trails of stem cell therapy
 

Cord Blood preservation (UCB)

  • Cryopreservation of cord blood for tissue repair
  • Cryopreservation of cord blood is recommended for treatment of future malignancy of the newborn
  • Expantion- is it needed?
  • Cryopreservation in the present of reduced concentration of cryoprotectant
  • Freeze dry technique and its medical applications
 

Basic understanding of vitrification – panel discussion

  • Sharp definition; what we mean by vitrification in reproductive biology
  • What are the conditions of vitrification
  • What are the conditions to achieve it under practical circumstances
  • What can be expected from vitrifications
  • What are the major factors hampering the widespread application of the technology
  • Optimization of cryopreservation procedures by theoretical vs. empirical analysis
 

Clinical use of vitrification

  • Applications of molecular biology to cryobiology
  • Vitrification of reproductive cells: advantages and disadvantages
  • Long-term stability of cryopreserved specimens.
  • Biosafety of vitrification- the issue of contamination using  an open  systems
  • The safety of vitrification with liquid nitrogen versus vapour
 

Oocytes

  • Chilling sensitivity of mammalian oocytes?  Is this a real phenomenon or an artifact?
  • Slow freezing vs vitrification of human oocytes
  • Use of parthenogenetic activation as a screening tool for cryopreservation techniques of human oocytes
  • Vitrification in oocyte donation programs: quarantine is now possible for oocytes
 

Oocyte II

  • Fast vs slow freezing of oocytes
  • Freeze drying – is this answer?
  • Open system vitrification
  • Ultrastructural and Metabolomic profile of vitrified oocytes
  • Vitrification of domestic animals
 

Sperm

  • Sperm freezing in human – is any thing new?
  • Clinical evaluation of the harmful effects of sperm freezing and its current indications
  • Male-to-male differences in freezing sensitivity of spermatozoa
  • Freeze dried sperm
  • Restoration of spermatogenesis from cryopreserved testicular tissue: the real situation of prepuberal cancer patients
 

Sperm freezing in primates

  • Is there a common protocol?
  • Wild animal sperm freezing – what can we learn from it?
  • Intracellular ice formation in spermatozoa?  Evidence for and against?
 

Fertility, tissue and organ preservation

  • Whole ovary freezing vs. cortex freezing
  • Cortex vitrification vs whole ovary vitrification
  • Vitrification of embryos and blastocysts
  • Vitrification of oocytes following IVM
  • The use of cryopreservation of tumor tissue for preparation of tumor cell vaccines and for future evaluation of molecular pathways
 

Animal embryo freezing

  • Domestic animal embryo freezing
  • Wild animals embryo freezing
  • Wild animals cells freeze drying for NT

Ovarian tissue and fertility preservation
  • Cryopreservation of ovarian tissue and orthotopic transplantation – what do we need it for if we can preserve oocytes?
  • Isolation, cryopreservation and reimplantation of primordial follicles – should this be the answer?
  • Cryopreservation of whole ovaries and their in vivo transplantation – what should be the implication?
  • Egg vs ovarian tissue freezing in patients with cancer – what should we recommend and to whom?
  • Ovarian cortex transplantation -  no special features are necessary to freeze ovaries and thaw them successfully
 

Embryo freezing

  • What is the best stage for freezing? From 2 PN to blastocyst
  • Vitrification of blastocysts: it is the way to go!
  • Viral infections in the donors: how do we deal with this?
  • Questions we do not have yet an answer
  • Restoring non living genomes through nuclear transfer; Intra-specific nuclear transfer: human cells into bovine oocytes: it is feasible?
 

Cryo-Bank

  • How to manage and organize an oocyte banking? The technique of freezing and thawing or vitrification and warming
  • How to manage and organize an embryo bank?
  • Reproductive organs banking: ovaries and fallopian tubes
  • Legislation of cryopreservation of gametes, tissue and regulation of transportation between countries
  • The use of cryopreservation of tumor tissue for preparation of tumor cell vaccines and for future evaluation of molecular pathways
 

Workshops

  • Lyophilization of cells
  • Vitrification of oocytes