Alexandra BenachiFranceAlexandra Benachi
Dr Alexandra Benachi, MD, PhD
Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology.Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Antoine Béclère Hospital. AP-HP. Paris Saclay University (Clamart-France) since September 2010.
FMF specialist. Head of Fetal Medicine training program (Sorbonne and Saclay Universities).
Co-Head of Centre for Rare Disease: Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.
Vice President of the French College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
President of the Scientific Committee for the department of “Procreation, Genetics and Embryo” at the French Biomedical Agency
Past member of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE).
Main topic: Fetal medicine and high-risk pregnancies
Toni BorrellSpainToni Borrell
Senior Consultant in Fetal Medicine and Prenatal Genetics at BCNatal- Hospital Clinic Barcelona and Full Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Barcelona Medical School. Past-Treasurer of the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis (ISPD), past-Chairman of the Fetal Ultrasound ISPD special interest group, past-Deputy Chairman of the Educational Committee of the European Association for Perinatal Medicine (EAPM), and past-President of the Catalan Chapter of Fetal Medicine. Currently, is the Chairman of the Fetoscopy Working Group, Chairman of the Catalan Ultrasound Screening Committee and advisor of the Catalan Health Department, has authored more than 170 peer reviewed international scientific publications.
Antonio CapalboItalyAntonio Capalbo
Dr. Capalbo received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology from University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ and his Ph.D. magna cum laude in Human Genetics at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart of Rome in 2011.
From 2008 to 2012 Dr. Capalbo has been working as a clinical embryologist, pioneering embryo biopsy approaches and applications. Since then, his research has focused on preimplantation genetic testing and on the development of novel molecular biology techniques to improve pregnancy and take-home baby rates in ART. His basic research has been focused on the mechanisms of aneuploidies in oocytes and preimplantation human embryos.
He received several grants for innovative studies on these subjects. From 2012-2017 he was co-founder and Laboratory Director at GENETYX, the largest PGT program in Italy. From 2017 until July 2022, he has been working as Genomics Research Director at Igenomix, and as laboratory director for Igenomix Italy.
He is currently coordinator of the ESHRE SIG in Reproductive Genetics, member of the genomics-working group of the Italian society of human genetics, and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Juno Genetics. In Academy, he is currently a researcher at the department of Psychological Health and Territorial Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara.
He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and is currently Reviewer and Associated Editor for many Journals in the field of reproductive biology and genetics (New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Human Genetics, Human Reproduction Update, Human Reproduction, Fertility and Sterility, Reproductive BioMedicine Online, Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, Journal of Medical Genetics, Scientific Reports, PNAS).
Lyn ChittyUKLyn Chitty
Brigitte FaasThe NetherlandsBrigitte Faas
Dr Brigitte Faas is a laboratoryspecialist clinical genetics at the department of Human Genetics at the Radboud university medical center Nijmegen, The Netherlands. As such, she has been involved in prenatal care for more than 25 years. She is not only well-informed in all currently in the setting of prenatal diagnosis used techniques, including SNP array analysis and exome sequencing, but is also involved in prenatal screening using NIPT. She has been a member of the advisory board of the Dutch Health Council, has been an invited speaker at many conferences, editor for Prenatal Diagnosis, and (co-)authored many papers.
Julie FirminFranceJulie Firmin
Dr. Julie Firmin is a MD-PhD. She received her MD from University of Nantes, France, where she specialised in reproductive biology and worked on stem cells for modeling human preimplantation embryos. She graduated from University of Paris Centre, France, investigating the morphogenesis of human preimplantation embryos. She is currently a senior embryologist at the Cochin Port-Royal’s hospital in Paris and is working as a researcher at Institut Curie in Paris. Her interests are focused on developmental biology, reproductive medicine and biology, ART, genetics
Heinz GabrielGermanyHeinz Gabriel
Clinical Laboratory Geneticist (European Society of Human Genetics)
I studied biology at the University Bielefeld, Germany and did my PhD at the University of Bonn, Germany.
I work as a Postdoc at the University of Essen, Germany and at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto, Canada.
I work since 2014 at CeGaT company Tuebingen, Germany
I’m head of the prenatal diagnostics team at CeGaT, Tuebingen.
Focus on prenatal trio exome diagnostics.
I’m also an elected Board member of the German professional association of Human genetics.
Tony GordonUKTony Gordon
Alan HandysideUKAlan Handyside
Yaqub HannaIsraelYaqub Hanna
Prof. Jacob (Yaqub) Hanna is pioneering techniques in induced pluripotency from adult cells and synthetic whole embryo models made solely from Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in the petri dish without using sperm, egg or uterus. He was the first to expand prolonged periods of normal mammalian embryo development in an “artificial uterus” environment. The latter enabled him to be the first to generate advanced stage whole synthetic embryos made entirely from naïve iPS cells in the petri dish, that can demonstrate organ formation. He adapted these approaches to derive the first complete human embryo-like model equivalent to day 14. He received numerous awards including the Rappaport Prize in biomedical research, a Krill Prize by the Wolf Foundation, the Kimmel Award and in 2021 was ranked at the top of the list of 50 leading world thinkers by Prospect magazine.
Solveig HeideFranceSolveig Heide
Solveig Heide is a clinical geneticist in Pitie Salpetriere Hospital in Paris. Her research work focuses on the genetic bases of anomalies of the corpus callosum. She has experienced in prenatal and postnatal diagnosis and follow-up of developmental anomalies and malformative syndromes.
Line Dahl JeppesenDenmarkLine Dahl Jeppesen
Degrees: MSc, PhD
Current professional position: Clinical Application Specialist, ARCEDI Biotech ApsBrief biography:
In 2018, Line Dahl Jeppesen spent a semester at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on reproductive sciences and fetal development. Since then, she has developed a keen research interest in the beginning of life, recognizing its fundamental significance to all individuals, and the area’s complex interplay of science and ethics.
Upon returning to Denmark, she embarked on a Master’s project in collaboration with the Danish biotech company ARCEDI Biotech Aps. An important milestone of this collaboration was the invention of a proprietary method for isolating fetal cells from maternal blood using FACS single-cell sorting.
Subsequently, Line Dahl Jeppesen pursued an Industrial PhD opportunity, focusing on the development of single-gene cell-based non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) for cystic fibrosis screening and tailoring solutions for high-risk pregnancies. This project received funding from Innovation Fund Denmark and was conducted in a unique private-public partnership between ARCEDI Biotech, Center for Fetal Diagnostics (Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University), and Aarhus University Hospital. In 2022, she had the privilege of visiting Professor Yuval Yaron and his team at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Ichilov, and their colleagues at Sheba Medical Center to gain insights into the Israeli reproductive carrier screening program.
Along these years, ARCEDI Biotech Aps has evolved to become the pioneer in offering cell-based NIPT, together with with Aarhus University Hospital, currently available through 15 clinics. Thus, after gaining her PhD title, Line Dahl Jeppesen has worked as a Clinical Application Specialist in ARCEDI Biotech, where she is responsible for the implementation of single-gene cbNIPD.
Nada KubikovaUKNada Kubikova
Nada is a reproductive biologist with interest in human genetics and infertility. In the recent years she has been focused on investigating how genome editing technologies might be harnessed to shed light on the key processes underlying human preimplantation development, with special interest in DNA repair and genome instability. She completed her MSc and DPhil from the University of Oxford and had since been appointed a Maplethorpe Junior Research Fellow in Biomedical Sciences at Jesus College, Oxford. Nada’s work in elucidating the DNA repair mechanisms in human embryos was recently awarded a prestigious prize by the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology at their annual 2023 meeting in Copenhagen
Brynn LevyUSABrynn Levy
Brynn Levy, M.Sc. (Med), Ph.D. is a Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology at the Columbia University Medical Center. He is also the Medical Director of the Clinical Cytogenetics Laboratory of the New York Presbyterian Hospital and a Co-Director of the Laboratory of Personalized Genomic Medicine in the Department of Pathology & Cell Biology. Dr. Levy is regarded internationally as an expert in the clinical utility of genomic technologies in reproductive medicine. He has authored multiple book chapters and publications on molecular genetics, clinical cytogenetics and molecular cytogenetics and lectured internationally about his experience utilizing novel cytogenomics technologies both as a clinical and research tool. His research areas of interest include early prenatal screening using fetal cells and cell-free fetal DNA from maternal circulation, PGD and the etiology of recurrent miscarriage. Dr. Levy was a Co-Investigator of the Multicenter NICHD study that investigated the use of microarrays for prenatal diagnosis and was the Columbia University site Principal Investigator of a NIH-funded study from the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network (SCRN) that assessed CNVs in stillbirths. Dr. Levy is a past President of the Cancer Genomics Consortium (GCC) and was the PI at Columbia University Medical Center for the GCG Multi-center Quality Control trial that performed cross-platform validation of cytogenomic arrays for cancer diagnostics. Dr. Levy currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) Foundation as well as the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis (ISPD). He is also the Genetics and Genomics Section Editor for the journal Prenatal Diagnosis.
Fionnuala MoneUKFionnuala Mone
Dr Mone PhD MSc MRCOG FRCPI is a clinical academic with dual qualification in maternal fetal medicine and prenatal genomics based at the Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University Belfast. She is editor for genetics for Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as an elected board member of the Royal College of Obstetrician’s and Gynaecologist’s Scientific Advisory Board where she is currently part of the working group for the RCOG guideline on cell free fetal DNA aneuploidy screening, abstract co-ordinator for the British Maternal Fetal Medicine Society and co-chair for the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis SIG on Fetal Imaging and Phenotyping. Her research focus is on summating evidence with regards the incremental yield of sequencing technologies dependent on fetal phenotype which has facilitated shaping of the NHS England R21 prenatal exome sequencing criteria.
Juliette NectouxFranceJuliette Nectoux
Juliette Nectoux is a molecular geneticist at Cochin Hospital, Paris, France. She has been active in the area of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) for over 10 years. In 2013, she carried out the technological transfer from quantitative real-time PCR to droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) for fetal gender determination and fetal RHD genotyping from maternal blood. Afterward, she proposed a new test based on ddPCR combined with minisequencing for the NIPD of achondroplasia and participated to a proof-of-concept study concerning ddPCR as an alternative to NGS for trisomy 21. Her current research involves NIPD of single-gene disorders (SGD-NIPD), focusing on the simple cases of paternally-inherited mutations as well as the complex cases of maternally-inherited mutations, through the development of a new digital-PCR or NGS-based algorithms. Thanks to the opportunities to present her results in national/international congresses, she participates to the diffusion and popularization of SGD-NIPD.
Sylvie OdentFranceSylvie Odent
Sylvie Odent is a university professor and hospital practitioner in medical genetics. She is head of the clinical genetics department at Rennes University Hospital (France) and a researcher at the Rennes Institute of Genetics and Development (IGDR, Rennes University, CNRS, INSERM, UMR 6290, ERL U1305). After studying medicine in Tours (France), Sylvie Odent specialized in pediatrics, then in medical genetics. She is coordinator of a rare disease reference center for developmental anomalies and malformative syndromes in the West of France (CLAD-Ouest), involving centers in Rennes, Nantes, Angers, Tours, Brest, Vannes, Le Mans and Orléans. She was president of the « Association francophone de génétique clinique » (AFGC) until 2017. She coordinates the GEM-Excell genetics and genomic medicine network, bringing together all the players at the Grand-Ouest teaching hospitals (HUGO). In July 2016, she had been appointed by the Ministries of Health and Research, along with Professor Yves Lévy, CEO of INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale), as a pilot for the development of the third Rare Diseases plan, which was launched on July 4, 2018. Since early 2020, she has been medical coordinator of Brittany’s rare disease expertise platform “Rares-Breizh”, which plays an important role in the care of rare diseases across the territory. She is involved in the 4th rare disease plan currently being drawn up, and is a member of the European ERN ITHACA network.
Raoul OrvietoIsraelRaoul Orvieto
Prof. Raoul Orvieto is a full professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and incumbent of the Tarnesby-Tarnowski Chair for Family Planning and Fertility Regulation, at the Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel. Prof. Orvieto is the director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, at the Sheba (Tel-Hashomer) Medical Center, Israel.
Since 2022, Prof. Orvieto is the president of the Israel Fertility association (IFA).
Prof. Orvieto is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology. He has been author and co-author of more than 400 publications in national and international journals. His scientific interests include various aspects of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH). The role of GnRH-analogues, and specifically GnRH agonist versus antagonist in COH for IVF, pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT), triggering final follicular maturation and several aspects of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS): pathophysiology, prediction, prevention and its relation to the inflammatory response.
List of publications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=orvieto-r&sort=date&size=200
Christian OttoliniUKChristian Ottolini
Dr Christian Simon Ottolini, PhD, is an accomplished expert in embryology and reproductive genetics. After completing his undergraduate studies and training as an embryologist in his native Australia, Dr Ottolini moved to London to advance his career in embryology and pursue a PhD in genetics. His research has mainly focussed on the origin of chromosomal abnormalities in human embryos, and his unique skill set has led to global collaborations with renowned researchers and the publication of several important papers describing novel biological phenomena.
Alongside his academic achievements, Dr Ottolini has worked as a clinical embryologist and laboratory director and has considerable experience setting up and running world class IVF facilities. He is known for his compassionate patient care and understanding the challenges individuals face when undergoing fertility treatment, always working hard to translate his research into tangible benefits for his patients and improve treatment outcomes. Currently Dr Ottolini resides in Rome, Italy, and is Head of Embryology for Juno Genetics EU forming part of the Juno research team. He also currently holds an academic affiliation as an honorary research fellow in the department of Maternal and Foetal Medicine at UCL, UK.
Gerald SchattenUSAGerald Schatten
Gerald Schatten is a Professor at the U Pitt Medical School who has directly trained over 50 doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, thousands more in the ‘Frontiers in…’ advanced training course series he founded, and his > 300 papers have appeared in premier journals, including Nature and Science. Dr. Schatten is an eloquent advocate for research in reproduction, development, regeneration, and stem cells, as well as being an advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; for these latter, he has been acknowledged by being among the recipients of NIH’s inaugural award for Outstanding Mentor for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility.
Erik SistermansThe NetherlandsErik Sistermans
Erik Sistermans is full professor of Human Genetics and head of the Genome Diagnostics laboratory of Amsterdam UMC. His main research interest is in improving prenatal diagnostics and screening. He studied chemistry in Leiden and obtained his PhD degree in Nijmegen. He is a registered clinical laboratory geneticist since 1994. Erik Sistermans was the project leader of the TRIDENT studies which resulted in the implementation of Non Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) in the Netherlands. He is (co)author of more than 150 papers in peer reviewed journals, of international Best Practice Guidelines, editorials and book chapters. He is associate editor of the journal “Extracellular Vesicles and Circulating Nucleic Acids”.
Chritel ThauvinFranceChritel Thauvin
Christel Thauvin, a medical geneticist, is a university professor and hospital practitioner at Dijon University and Dijon-Bourgogne University Hospital. Since 2019, she has been co-pilot of the France Genomic Medicine Initiative 2025. She also has regional responsibilities, notably as head of the Medical Genomics Diagnostics Laboratory and deputy coordinator of the TRANSLAD University Hospital Federation, dedicated to translational medicine for rare diseases with developmental abnormalities. She is also co-founder and leader of the Inserm UMR 1231 GAD research team dedicated to the genomics of developmental abnormalities.
Her team is one of the leaders in France in the implementation of new-generation sequencing and multi-omics technologies, in particular for identifying the molecular bases of rare diseases and deploying these technologies in postnatal and prenatal diagnosis. Her team has developed expertise in genomics and bioinformatics, working closely with teams in the humanities and social sciences, enabling it to explore the ethical and medico-economic issues associated with these new technologies.
She coordinated the first French study of exome sequencing in prenatal diagnosis. She is currently coordinating the first French study of ultra-fast genome sequencing in prenatal diagnosis (results delivered to the prescriber in less than 7 days).
Diane Van OpstalThe NetherlandsDiane Van Opstal
Diane Van Opstal studied Biology at the University of Leuven (Belgium) and after her study, since 1987, she has worked in the Prenatal Cytogenetics Laboratory of the Department of Clinical Genetics at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. She received her Ph.D. (“Molecular cytogenetics in prenatal diagnosis”) from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (The Netherlands) in 1998. Since then, she worked as a Laboratory Specialist Clinical Genetics, performing prenatal cytogenetic diagnostics and non-invasive genome-wide prenatal testing. She was involved in the development, validation and implementation in the laboratory of new technologies like FISH in the late eighties and later molecular techniques like MLPA, QF-PCR, aCGH, SNP arrays and WES. Since 2005, she is a tutor of Laboratory Specialists Clinical Genetics. She is a member of the Dutch NIPT consortium involved in the implementation of genome-wide NIPT in the Netherlands (the Trident studies). Her main research interest is the phenomenon of chromosomal mosaicism at the different stages of pregnancy, from conception up till birth, in preimplantation embryos, abortion tissue, chorionic villi, amniotic fluid, fetus and placenta and the mechanisms of origin of chromosome aberrations.
Dagan WellsUKDagan Wells
Yuval YaronIsraelYuval Yaron
Prof. Yaron is a graduate of the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine. He trained in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Tel Aviv Medical Center and was certified in 1995. He did a clinical fellowship in Reproductive Genetics at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and received certification from the American Board of Medical Genetics in 1998. He is also board certified in Clinical Genetics by the Israeli Board. For over 25 years he has served as the Director of the Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis Unit at the Tel Aviv Medical Center. Prof. Yaron is a Full Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine. He is the current Chairman of the Israeli Society of Medical Genetics. He is the Founder and Chairman of Controversies in Genetics (COGEN) World Congress. He is a past board member of the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis (ISPD) and is currently an Editorial Board member of Prenatal Diagnosis. In his current position he now heads the Bioinformatics Team at the Genome Center at the Tel Aviv Medical Center, focusing on the use of Exome and Genome Sequencing in prenatal diagnosis with particular interest in fetal brain anomalies. Prof Dr Yaron has authored more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed Journals and dozens of chapters in tesxtbooks.
SpeakersAdam Barkay2024-03-06T15:47:05+00:00
- Lyn ChittyUK
- Tony GordonUK
- Alan HandysideUK
- Dagan WellsUK
