3rd Annual Reproductive, Genetic and Biotechnology Conference

24.10.2017

On October 20, 2017, IVF Riga Reproductive Genetics Center and IVF Riga Stem Cell Center organized the 3rd Annual Reproductive, Genetic and Biotechnology Conference. The conference was attended by more than 170 guests.
The conference piqued the interest of geneticists, gynecologists, reproductive specialists, traumatologists, biotechnologists, embryologists, laboratory specialists, as well as midwives and students. This conference gathered specialists from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Austria and Russia.
During the opening speech, the reproductive specialist, gynecologist-obstetrician and medical director of IVF Riga, Dr. Violeta Fodina focused on the rapid development of modern medicine in stem cell research and genetics, and emphasized the need to develop cell technologies in Latvia in order to treat patients with personalized biological material.
The attendees of the conference were highly interested in the guest lectures, which were related to various cell technologies, regenerative therapy, as well as genetic and reproductive medicine. The lecturers represented different countries: Latvia, Israel, Lithuania, Sweden, Belgium, Great Britain, Norway and Spain.
The first session of the conference, which was led by the director of the tissue typing laboratory of the Rabin Medical Center, Israel, Dr. Moshe Israeli, was devoted to stem cells. A lecture on “Stem Cell Therapy for Reproductive Systems” by Fillipo Zambelli, a representative of the Vrije University Human Reproduction and Genetics Research Group, gained a lot of attention, as it presented preclinical research results of stem cell transplantation for uterine restoration and Asherman syndrome therapy.
Adomas Bukauskas from Vilnius University Hospital  described the use of mesenchymal stem cells in clinical trials in cases of transplant rejection.
The second session of the conference, which was led by Virpi Tohonen from Karolinska University Hospital Karolinska Institutet, was devoted to various genetic aspects.
During this session, representatives of the Cytogenetic External Quality Assessment Service, Katrina Rack, PhD, and Ros Hastings, PhD, gave lectures on “Genetic and cytogenetic testing of malignant hemato-oncological tumors” and “Improvement of the quality of prenatal and preimplantation genetic diagnostic”.
Lecturer of Riga Stradins University Faculty of Biology and Microbiology, Dr. Zita Krumina, left a lasting impression on the audience with her lecture “Stem cell transplantation in rare genetic diseases. Case studies.”. During her lecture, doctor talked about specific cases where allogeneic stem cells were used to treat severe genetic disorders in children. In addition, Dr. Krumina emphasized the need for umbilical cord blood donation banks in Latvia, which would help to treat children with various genetic disorders.
Attendees had the opportunity to see the latest developments in technology, which were presented by such companies as Merck Ltd., Biosan Ltd., Fima Ltd., Origio Plc., Gedeon Richeter Plc. representation in Latvia, Vitrolife Sweden Plc., Inbio Ltd., BioAvots Ltd., Medilink Ltd., BENU Ltd., AGA Ltd., Interlux Ltd., ViaMedPharma Ltd.
After the conference, guests and participants noted that the event was organized according to all European standards, and praised the invited guest lecturers. The participants of the conference came to the conclusion that it is highly important to work on the continuous development of personalized medicine in Latvia.