IETS Meeting in Kyoto

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It seems as though the “off season” for the equine practitioner and academician is extremely short, and by now has come to a screeching halt. The breeding season is underway and practitioners are once again putting in those long hours. There also seems to be a rush to finish all the meetings before spring arrives. The AAEP Convention was a great success, as usual, followed by the NAVC in Orlando and the WVC in Las Vegas.

The first 2 weeks of my year were spent in Kyoto, Japan, attending the International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS) meeting. While IETS is not a “horse” meeting, however, much cutting-edge technology in reproduction is first presented at this gathering. Although the animal model may be a mouse, sheep, goat, or cow, the technologies in many cases end up being used in the horse industry as well.

Nearly 700 people were in attendance at the 2007 IETS meeting, from 39 different countries. This organization typically holds one or two full-day pre-conference symposia, a 3-day main meeting, and a post-conference symposium. One of the pre-conference symposia was on innovative techniques in human and animal embryology. One of the sessions centered on developing techniques for evaluating the health and development of oocytes (eggs) and early embryos in culture. Unlike the horse, oocytes collected from most other species can be matured and fertilized in the test tube. I think if there is going to be a breakthrough in technology to mature equine oocytes in culture, it will come from some of the work done in other species. One of the most fascinating sessions of this symposium dealt with embryonic stem cells. Much of the research presented at this symposium centered on defining conditions for derivation and culture of embryonic stem cells. Other areas of the conference, which have application to both humans and horses, concerned cryopreservation of oocytes and embryos.