Dr. Croy is a veterinary graduate who pursed an academic career in anatomical sciences. In 2004, she was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Reproduction, Development and Sexual Function at Queen’s University. Dr. Croy’s research program focuses upon the regulation and functions of transient pregnancy-associated uterine natural killer cells in animal models. Her studies address roles of these cells in endometrial angiogenesis supporting healthy gestation and as potential players in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia and spontaneous fetal loss. 

Brian Acacio, MD, FACOG, is a recognized leader in reproductive medicine – reproductive immunology, the treatment of recurrent pregnancy loss (miscarriages) and implantation failure (prior IVF failures). He is a Medical Director/owner of Acacio Fertility Center in Laguna Niguel, CA, USA. The Center is one with the highest successful pregnancy rate in USA and worldwide. Before opening his Center in early 2008, he was Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Division Director of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of

Carolyn  Coulam, M.D. is board certified in the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology and in the sub-specialty of reproductive endocrinology and has served as chair of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at the Mayo Clinic where she established the first in vitro fertilization (IVF) program at this institution, in 1983. She became professor at the Mayo Medical School in 1984.  Since then she has served as chair of the Division of Reproductive Biology at the University of Pittsburgh, as the Medical Director of the Center for Reproduction and Transplantation

Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Departments. of Medicine, Molecular Medicine & Pathology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, Affiliate Scientist, Toronto General Research Institute (Transplant Immunology/Cell Biology Divisions). M.D. University of Western Ontario, Canada (1967); Diplomate American Board of Internal Medicine, Boston, Mass., USA (1972); Fellow, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (1974); Ph.D. (Regulation of Cytotoxic T lymphocytes), University of Toronto (1977); Fellow of the

Eytan R. Barnea investigates early pregnancy, translating basic observations into clinical applications. He is the discoverer of the PreImplantation Factor (PIF) an embryo-derived compound essential for pregnancy and instrumental for non-pregnant autoimmune scenarios. Founder of S.I.E.P., the Society for the Investigation of Early Pregnancy, he co-edited The First Twelve Weeks of Gestation (Springer-Verlag), Implantation and Early Pregnancy in Humans (Parthenon), Embryonal Medicine and Therapy (OUP), and Cancer & Pregnancy (Springer-

Dr Gérard CHAOUAT initially worked on enhancing antibodies and suppressor T cells. Placental suppression was then studied, and a low MW molecule isolated inducing anergy on TcR activated T lymphocytes. Other suppressive pathways were studied with D. Clark (TGF beta 2) and J. Szekeres Bartho . Dr Chaouat centres on the utero placental cytokine network, initially in the CBA x DBA/2 murine abortion model, which demonstrated the involvement of “immunotrophic” cytokines as

Gil Mor, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Yale University School of Medicine. In his research he examines topics related to the immunology of implantation, the role of apoptosis in tissue remodeling and cancer, as well as the role of inflammation in cancer formation and progression. At the present time he is the Director of the Reproductive Immunology Unit and the Translational Research Program “Discovery To Cure” at Yale University.  Dr. Mor is the Editor in Chief of the American Journal of Reproductive

After my study at the High Medical Institute in Sofia and the Medical Academy of Magdeburg 1965 I received  the doctorate of medicine. In 1970 I was given the Medical Specialists Certificate of Gynecology and Obstetrics and then worked as Senior Physician in the Gynecological Hospital of the Medical Academy Magdeburg. Along with the special medical training I continued my scientific education and specialized in the diagnosis and therapy of infertility. I familiarized with this branch and started scientific research of immunological and andrological problems. In 1981 I did the advanced doctorate in -Immunologic causes to

Prof Hiroaki Shibahara is a chief of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Jichi Medical University, and Center for Reproductive Medicine, Jichi Medical University Hospital, 3311-1 Yakushiji, Shimotsuke, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan. He have next awards: 1995 - Hyogo Prefectural Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology;1998- Japan Society of Fertilization and Implantation and 2003 - Japan Society of Fertility and Sterility. He is a councilor of American Society of Reproductive Immunology, Chair of the 3 annual domestic meetings –

Ian Sargent is an immunologist based in the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Oxford, UK, where he is Professor of Reproductive Science. He has worked in the field of Reproductive Immunology for the past 30 years and has over 150 publications on a wide range of topics including pre-eclampsia, feto-maternal cell traffic, trophoblast microparticles, HLA-G and early human embryo development and implantation. He was Scientific Director of the Oxford IVF Unit for over 20 years. He is a member of the Executive Councils of

Director of the Institute of  Biotechnology AS CR, v.v.i. and Head of Laboratory of Diagnostics for Reproductive Medicine, Videnska 1083, 142 20 Prague 4, Czech Republic. The main activities of her research are related to the role of selected sperm proteins in fertilization as well as the role of reproductive fluids in the early stages of fertilization. She investigate and effects of selected pollutants on viability and physiology of cells in vitro and on reproduction of mice in vivo. Her publication activities include more than 90 original scientific papers. She is a

Julia Szekeres-Bartho is a full professor and chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School of Pécs University, Hungary. Her research has focused on, the interaction of reproductive hormones and the immune system. Her group have discovered and characterized a progesterone induced protein called PIBF. By signaling via a novel form of the IL-4 receptor this molecule induces a TH2 dominant cytokine production, and exerts an anti-abortive effect in mice. PIBF production is also a characteristic feature of normal

Katja Teerds is trained as a biologist and did a PhD at the Medical Faculty of Utrecht University. After her PhD she joined the Department of Functional Morphology, division of Cell Biology where she continued her research on Leydig cell development in the testis. She received an honorable grant for excellent research from the Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1991 to continue her research on Leydig cells. She was appointed assistant professor in Cell Biology in 1995. The focus of her research had by that time expanded to follicle development in the ovary as well. In 2002 she was appointed as associate

Professor Dr. med. Liselotte Mettler was born on 6.6.39 in Vienna, Austria. From 1959-1981 medical studies, doctorate, medical specialist training, habilitation and professorship in Tübingen, Vienna and Kiel. 1981-2007 she was Deputy Director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospitals Schleswig-Holstein; 2002-2007-Head of the Gynaecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine Division at the same department. Her main fields of activity are reproductive medicine, gynaecological endoscopy and gynaecological

Professor Kurpisz is a Head of Department of Reproductive Biology and Stem Cells, Institute of Human Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan, Poland. He has graduated Poznan Medical University. Then he was promoted as MD in Immunology (1982) and Ph.D. in Genetics (1989), since 1996, he is appointed as a full professor. He performed professional training in UK, USA, Japan and Germany. His main research topics include reproductive immunology and genetics

Marie-Pierre Piccinni received her first PhD in Hematology from the Scientific, Medical and Technologic University Joseph Fourier of Grenoble (France) and her second PhD in Clinical Immunology from the University of Bari (Italy) in 1999. She is assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Florence (I) and she is the chief of the Allergology Laboratory in the “Immunoallergology Unit” of the Centro Ospedaliero Universitario di Careggi ( Careggi  Hospital of Florence). Since coming to the Department of Internal Medicine of the University of

Milena Mourdjeva is working in the field of reproductive immunology and stem cells. She is head of Department Molecular Immunology at IBIR-BAS. Supervisor of PhD and Master Theses programmes. She is co-author of over 15 scientific papers with more than 45 citations. Mourdjeva is participant in ReProForce project under REGPOT-2009-1; Principal Investigator or Group leader in national projects funded by National Science Fund of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. Recent work of Milena Mourdjeva is focused on comparative

Professor Fernández did a BSc at Kings College in London and a trained as an immunologist at the Royal London Hospital. He was appointed as a lecturer in immunology at the University of Essex in 1990 and was promoted to Professor in 2000. Professor Fernández has served as Head of Molecular Medicine and Director of the Bioimaging Core Facility at Essex, until October 2011. Currently his main activities involve teaching and research. His teaching involves undergraduate and graduate (research) modules; at undergraduate level he has developed core modules in immunology for BSc students in the science faculty. He

Professor Shinji Komori , Hyogo College of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1-1 Mukogawa-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, 663-8501, Japan, Phone:81-798-45-6481,Fax-81-798-46-4163, E-mail: komor615@hyo-med.ac.jp. He is graduated form School of Medicine, Tokushima University (1982), Tokushima. Experience: 1982 6 - Resident of Dept. of OB/GYN, Hyogo College of Medicine; 1984 6 - Senior resident of Dept. of OB/GYN, Hyogo College of Medicine; 1985 6 Research associate of Dept. of OB/GYN, Hyogo College of Medicine 1998 12 Assistant professor of Dept. of OB/GYN, Hyogo

Medical Doctor, professor, head of the laboratory of Clinical Immunology of State Research Institute of Maternity and Childhood (Ivanovo, Russia), author more than 800 scientific publications, scientific supervisor of 78 PHD students

Dr. Peter Sedlmayr is associate professor at the Institute of Cell Biology, Histology and Embryology, Center of Molecular Medicine at the Medical University of Graz, Austria. As a physician he is board certified for Immunology, Histology and Embryology, Internal Medicine and Clinical Chemistry. Starting from earlier research in tumor immunology he developed interest in reproductive immunology with special focus on the maternal immune cells at the endometrium and on mechanisms of feto-maternal tolerance. A further area of interest is single cell analysis in the

PhD - Paris 6 Univ (Biol. Reproduction). Post-doc 3-year training in Immunology/Molecular Biology: Clinical Research Centre, Immunological Medicine, Harrow, UK. One sabbatical year at Yale University, New Haven, CT, 9 years at the Centre d'immunologie Marseille-Luminy. I focused my interest on the functions of soluble and membrane-bound HLA-G isoforms in human embryo implantation, pregnancy outcome, and placental development. I established my own INSERM group in Toulouse on this topic and more recently on the effector functions of

Dr. Qing-Yuan Sun is a professor of reproductive biology in the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He obtained his Ph.D. degree in embryology from Northeast Agricultural University in 1994. Then he got post-doc training in CAS, Bar-Ilan University and University of Missouri-Columbia. He became a full professor in 1998. His main research interest is cell and molecular biology of mammalian oocyte meiotic maturation and fertilization. He has authored or co-authored more than 220 papers in peer-review international journals, with more than 4000 citations. He is awardees of Distinguished Young Scientist of the

Dr. Fichorova’s research elucidates molecular mechanisms of innate immunity and susceptibility to infection in the female reproductive tract and the cytokine network in mothers and infants. Dr. Fichorova earned MD and PhD from the Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria, and a Fellowship in Reproductive Immunology at the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology of Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). For 5 years she worked as an Assistant Professor at her Alma Mater, where she

Assoc. Professor Rossitza Konakchieva is a Head of Dept. Immunoneuroendocrinology, Head of Laboratory for Radioimmunology, Institute of Biology and Immunology of Reproduction and Director (Honorary) of Bachelor and Magister Programs in Cell Communication and Signalling, Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University. Research profile of Dr. Konakchieva is Stress, neuroendocrine adaptation, pineal gland, immunomodulation. Professional experience: Management and supervision of research activities, principal investigator of national and international research

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Deputy Director, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, Secretary-General, of ISIR (2010-2013). Dr. Gupta has made pioneering contributions in elucidating the biological functions of hormones such as hCG & GnRH and oocyte specific zona pellucida (ZP) glycoproteins by employing monoclonal antibodies. The B cell epitope mapping and cloning & expression studies have led to new insight in to the role of ZP glycoproteins during fertilization in humans. These studies have helped

Dr.Soren Hayrabedyan is currently working as Experienced Researcher at Project ReProForce under the ReGPot initiative of 7th EU FP. He currently works on the innate immune pathways perturbation in Sertoli cells and its impact on blood-testis barrier function and antigen presentation. He has graduated medicine, subsequently worked as Assistant Professor in Physiology, received PhD in Immunology in the Institute of Biology and Immunology of Reproduction. Dr. Hayrabedyan worked on problems of endometriotic angiogenesis and tumor markers

Prof. Takao Koike is born  October 4, 1947,  Sapporo, Japan. Her present address: ?CEO of NTT Sapporo Medical Center, Sapporo, JAPAN. Education: 1972  M.D. Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo Japan. 1972-1975  Residency: Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo Japan. 1975-1978  Research Fellow, Department of Pathology, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan. 1978-1980  Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA.

Prof. Udo Markert is Head of the Placenta Laboratories, the research unit of the Department of Obstetrics at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany. He is the current President-Elect of the American Society of Reproductive Immunology, which honored him with the John Herr Award 2009. He is member of the Councils of the European Society of Reproductive Immunology and the International Society for Immunology of Reproduction. Prof. Markert is Associate Editor (since 2010) of the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology and of three

Dr.Vera Jonakova is Senior Scientist in Laboratory of Diagnostics for Reproductive Medicine, Institute of Biotechnology, AS CR,v.v.i., Prague, Czech Republic. Education:1963-1968 – Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague; 1969 – RNDr. (Rerum Naturalium Doctor);1975 was graduated PhD - Thesis “Structure of trypsin inhibitor from cow colostrum“; 1997 – Associate Professor, Thesis: „Biochemical proces of sperm-egg binding“. 2001 – DrSc., biological sciences – biochemistry, Thesis: “Sperm surface proteins in fertilization.” Postdoctoral research

Dr. Viktor Chernyshov graduated from the Lviv State Medical University with a degree in  medicine and a MD in internal medicine. He received PhD at 1970 and Doctor of Medical Sciences at 1980. From 1981 is a Head, Laboratory of Immunology, Institute of Pediatrics, O/G, National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine. From 1988 is Professor of Immunology. Dr.Chernyshov  organized four International symposia for Immunology of Reproduction in Kiev (1987- 1996). He was a supervisor of 33 PhD and 4 DSc. He has more than 450 publications in journals

Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeld was the head of a Department of Medicine since 1984 (age 36), until March 2011, and he has founded in 1985 and is now heading the Center for Autoimmune Diseases, at the largest hospital in Israel- the Sheba Medical Center, which is affiliated to the Sackler Faculty of Medicine in Tel-Aviv University, in Israel.  Dr. Shoenfeld is the Incumbent of the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Chair for Research of Autoimmune Diseases in Tel-Aviv University. His clinical and scientific works focus on autoimmune /rheumatic diseases, and he

Biological Doctor, senior scientific worker of the laboratory of Clinical Immunology of State Research Institute of Maternity and Childhood (Ivanovo, Russia), author more than 200 scientific poublications, scientific superviser of 4 PHD students.

Prof. Zdenka Ulcova-Gallova works in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of  Medical School of Charles University and Faculty Hospital in Pilsen. A major aim of her activities is  to work in the field of  gynecology, obstetrics, and  reproductive immunology. She has been a chief  of a lot of  Czech research programmes and co-worker of some international studies. She organised European Congress of Reproductive Immunology in Pilsen, Czech Republic (2004). She is member of nine societies, and  of editorial board  of two Czech journals.