The first virtual ESHRE took place 5-8 July, 2020, in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. ESHRE is the biggest reproductive health and embryology conference in Europe and takes place annually. It was super to see such a strong presence from CRH scientists who took part in talks, led coffee break discussions, and scooped up awards. The meeting was a resounding success and we owe grateful thanks to the organising committee for making the online version of ESHRE possible. CRH success summary Lance Lin (Chih-Jen Lin) was awarded Basic Science Award for his oral presentation: Histone Histone variant H3.3 chaperone complex, Hira, is essential for male pronucleus formation in mouse and human (Session 17: Cellular characteristics of embryo development). Dr Lin will be rewarded with a prize of EURO 2,000. Huge congratulations Lance on this phenomenal achievement! Image Dr Lin - Basic Science Award Gabriele Matilionyte (Mitchell lab, final year PhD student), already a Twitter aficionado, was selected out of a large number of applications to be one of the online young ambassadors, known as ‘The ESHRE 5’. This involved reporting a fast, educated and succinct summary of the talks via her Twitter platform. These were shared widely and provided extra value to the virtual conference. On the official records of the top Twitter ESHRE influencers Gabriele was rated as third overall, highlighting how influential her social media activity was throughout the meeting. Well done Gabby for doing such a brilliant job! (Follow Gabriele’s Twitter updates @g_matilionyte). Image Gabriele Matilionyte - ESHRE influencer Talks: Lance Lin : Histone variant H3.3 chaperone complex, Hira, is essential for male pronucleus formation in mouse and human (Session 17: Cellular characteristics of embryo development). *Award winner* Gabriele Matilionyte: Pre-treatment with Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor does not protect germ cell populations in the immature human testis from Cisplatin-induced germ cell loss (Session 63: Protecting gamete quality). Andrew Horne: Developing biomarkers for non-viable pregnancies: the laboratory expert perspective (Session 65: Biomarkers of failed pregnancy) Over 1800 abstracts were submitted to ESHRE this year, so to be selected for a talk following such a competitive selection process is very impressive. Well done all. Chairs and coffee break discussions: Richard Anderson (chair): The way forward for fertility preservation Andrew Horne (chair): Endometriosis and uterine disorders - new clinical insights Rod Mitchell (coffee break discussion): Fertility preservation in prepubertal boys - what are the options? Well done to everyone mentioned for adapting to the virtual meeting and flying the CRH flag so successfully. Here’s to #ESHRE2021 Publication date 09 Jul, 2020
