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This weekend kicks off the 68th annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in San Diego, CA and runs through October 24th. ASRM was founded in 1944 by a small group of fertility experts in Chicago and since then, distinguished members of ASRM have led the development...
I just returned from the annual Oncofertility Consortium Conference and one of the ethical topics that came up was the possibility of disputes over frozen reproductive materials. Before undergoing life-saving cancer treatment, people may opt to freeze gametes, gonadal tissue, or embryos in order to...
The 2012 Oncofertility Conference: Dialogues in Oncofertility begins next Thursday, September 27th in Chicago, IL. This 6th annual conference will include talks from experts across the globe on topics that range from factors influencing primate folliculogenesis to the psychosocial needs of young...
Here at the Oncofertility Consortium, we are busy putting the final touches on the upcoming 2012 Oncofertility Conference: Dialogues in Oncofertility. At the conference, experts will discuss which cancer treatments are likely to damage later reproductive ability for men, women, and children and ...
A series of workshops designed to promote the teaching of biotechnology in Chicago Public Schools kicked off with a June 19 symposium featuring pioneering Northwestern University cancer researcher Teresa K. Woodruff. The event also connected educators to the partners sponsoring...
The Oncofertility Consortium is pleased to announce the launch of the 2012 Oncofertility Conference webpage! For anyone who doesn’t know yet, the 6th annual Oncofertility Conference (#oncofert12 for you Twitter folks!) is being held in Chicago this fall, September 26th-28th. This year will prove...
Students and scientist-organizers of the March 12th Oncofertility 101 course
Last week, the Oncofertility Consortium hosted its second Oncofertility 101 course. In this laboratory-based course, organized by Francesca Duncan, PhD, and Jennifer Pahnke, MS, researchers learn the methods to study...
Earlier this year, I blogged about a young woman and volunteer with Bright Pink, Kristin Nelson, who had preventative ovarian removal after she tested positive for BRCA1. BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are a class of genes otherwise known as tumor suppressors, and a mutation of these genes has been linked...
The 2011 Oncofertility Consortium Conference incorporated many new activities and attendees. One new special group of attendees were high school students from the Oncofertility Saturday Academy, the informal science outreach program run by the investigators of the Oncofertility Consortium around...
Last week, the 2011 Oncofertility Consortium Conference: Priorities for Sustainable Oncofertility Research and Patient Care, was held here in Chicago. One of the more than 150 attendees was a University of Pennsylvania medical school student, Katie Dillon, who works with Clarisa Gracia, MD, MSCE on...
The past few weeks have been busy ones here at the Oncofertility Consortium. We have been in the midst of preparing for the fifth annual conference to investigate advances in cancer and fertility, which begins tomorrow morning (Monday, September 12th, 2011). It is hard to believe that it has...
Mary Zelinski, PhD finishes her reports from the annual meeting of the Society for Cryobiology held from Corvallis, Oregon with a final blog about the keynote talk from Alison Ting, PhD. In this post, she relay's Dr. Ting's findings about advancing ovarian tissue cryopreservation techniques in one...
In this blog, Mary Zelinski, PhD continues her reports from the annual meeting of the Society for Cryobiology held in Corvallis, Oregon, July 24-27. In this post, she relay's the findings of Dr. Pukazhenthi, on the importance of fertility preservation for endangered species. Read the first and ...
Last week, Mary Zelinski reported to us about the annual meeting of the Society for Cryobiology held in Corvallis, Oregon, July 24-27. She continues her review of the meeting and the keynote presentation by Dr. Steven Mullen, below. Read the first blog post on Cryo2011.
A few weeks ago, this blog discussed some of the ins and outs of cryopreservation, or highly specialized freezing of tissues for long-term preservation, in oncofertility. Scientists in this scientific field and members of the Oncofertility Consortium recently attended a meeting on this technology...
Across the United States this weekend, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) communities are celebrating the impact that LGBT people have on the world. Parades and other events from New York to Chicago to San Francisco commemorate the gay pride movement. The Oncofertility Consortium...
A cancer diagnosis often carries a number of legal issues, including insurance coverage, employment and taking time off work, access to health care and government benefits, etc… These legal issues can have a serious affect on an individual’s already compromised health causing stress and confusion,...
Younger cancer patients and survivors deal with a deluge of information during medical treatment. In addition to this new, almost full-time job, survivors also have to balance their professional lives. Many of the same young patients who must make fertility choices quickly after a cancer diagnosis...
The contents of the Oncofertility Consortium Blog are for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.