You can’t fault this years meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction for its lack of diversity. The lineup included scientists who study marsupial possums, environmental toxins, the mechanics of DNA silencing, and a cluster of Texans who keep a herd of sheep close at hand near their lab.
I am now a step closer to understanding the wonders of the pig uterus—which gestates an embryo that within a day goes from a 1 cm sphere to a 1 meter long thread (“Like dental floss,” explained one researcher.) I’m more wary than before of that uibiquitous stuff that lines food cans (bisphenol A; BPA). And I am threatening to turn into a scold against soy infant formula (studies at the meeting showed that estrogen-like compounds in the formula can shut down DNA in young animals in a process called methylation).
I’m late on the uptake blogging about the meeting—the usual excuses about trying to meet editing deadlines while attending the sessions, loose proofs, wayward authors. And I only went for two days—Monday, July 20 and Tuesday, July 21. But even belatedly, some of the highlights of the meeting, which took place in Pittsburgh, still seem worth touching on.
On Monday, researchers presented a cluster of studies where they attempted to freeze oocytes—the trendy way to promote fertility in countries such as Italy, where freezing of tiny embryos presents a legal quandary. No one has hit on the answer yet—upon thawing, the oocytes still seem to lose too many chromosomes. But some researchers are getting closer.
Theresa Woodruff, for instance, presented data on preserving fertility in women undergoing cancer treatment, showing how her group can culture human ovarian follicles that produce fully-sized oocytes. She hosted a conference on the subject in Chicago this July, the ‘Oncofertility Reflections on the Humanities and Social Sciences ’ bringing together religious and legal experts with ethicists and scientists to discuss the ramifications of the emerging technology. That seems like a smart thing to do for a researcher working a system that has the potential to bump up the upper age of female reproduction.
Much of the Pittsburgh meeting focused on reproductive toxins, not surprising given that chair of the meeting was Pat Hunt, known for her work suggesting that BPA may act through estrogen receptors to affect developmental processes such as the integrity of chromosomes in the oocyte.
She invited John Peterson, publisher of “Environmental Health News” to give a rundown of BPA research and government regulation. He pointed out that 90 percent of 232 animal studies funded by the government have found an effect of BPA at levels beneath that considered safe by the US Food and Drug Administration. He provided examples of industry influence at US regulatory agencies and argued they use outdated scientific standards to evaluate toxins. But I’m still not clear on why countries such as Canada have banned BPA in baby bottles while the FDA seems to be thinking about reviewing the data yet again.
That same evening organizers invited a firebrand who speaks up for animal research. Tom Holder, who founded the United-Kingdom-based group ‘Speaking of Research’ looks about 18 and he speaks with the urgency of a politician gunning for office. He warned that the intimidation tactics of animal-rights groups in California threaten to turn the state ‘into the next Oxford’, known as a target of such groups. He showed how his organization is working to show the public in the UK how animal research help people, and directed scientists to his group’s website to learn of ways they can help.
To me, the poster sessions were the highlight. Along with the possum researchers, there were people working on fertility in elephants, cattle and manatees. “There is usually a bunchof panda people, but not this year,” ’ lamented one researcher.
One poster caught my attention in particular. Swine researchers provide evidence that suckling pigs obtain a critical hormone, relaxin, through their mother’s milk—the hormone in turn seems to be required for the proper expression of developmental genes in the cervix. It may be a stretch, but perhaps the milk is helping to properly prepare the piglets to birth the next generation.