Close to 100 delegates came to Ystad on the 28-29th of April 2022 to participate in the 5th ReproYoung conference with symposia, poster walks and a battle-style debate between Principal Investigators in different disciplines of reproductive medicine.
“It is the fifth time that our efforts in ReproYoung comes together in a conference, which offers a unique opportunity for young researchers to present science, which is rarely given at large international conferences. Everyone really delivered at a high level, and it was very rewarding to sense all the delegates’ joy and interest in sharing their knowledge,” comments Jesper Friis Petersen, co-chairman of ReproYoung.
The conference had symposia on female/male reproduction, genetics & epidemiology and environmental factors in reproduction. Ireen Kooij from the Department of Growth & Reproduction at Rigshospitalet took home the first prize for the best oral presentation, when she spoke about the impact of a vitamin D metabolite on male reproductive function.
There were also eight well-organised poster walks and the first prize for the best poster went to Monica Draskau from the Technical University of Denmark, following her presentation about studies pointing to how azole fungicides may affect germ cell development.
There was also a winner of the impressive battle-stye debate on the first day. Eva Hoffmann argued the humoristic case for how all reproductive research starts with basic science. Henriette Svarre Nielsen made entertaining arguments on it all starting with the patient from a clinical perspective and Jenny Gunnarsson Payne pointed to the big picture, which qualitative research provides when it comes to how reproductive diseases are lived and experienced by both the individual and the society. However, it was Sandra Søgaard Tøttenborg taking home the prize on behalf of the field of epidemiology when she argued a strong, humoristic and somewhat salty case for the benefit of observational studies and how they point to the reproductive challenges and where to start the research in the first instance.
“We also had great feedback from the experienced professors on the high quality of the conference allowing airtime for the young researchers as well as excellent networking and the sharing of knowledge in different fields of reproductive medicine. It gave a great sense of achievement that we in the organising committee, delivered on all the elements we had planned – despite being a smaller group than usual. And on that note the conference turned out as a great showcase to attract new members to ReproYoung! So far four new potential members have contacted me, and if more young researchers/clinicians are interested to join the ReproYoung network, they are very welcome to reach out to me,” concludes Jesper Friis Petersen.
