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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEChairmanAnna Veiga (ES)Chairman ElectJuha Tapanainen (FI)MembersCarlos Calhaz-Jorge (PT)Ursula Eichenlaub-Ritter (DE)Roy Farquharson (GB)Anis Feki (CH)Niels Lambalk (NL)Jolieneke Schoonenberg-Pomper (NL)Antonis Makrigiannakis (GR)Milan Macek Jr. (CZ)Cristina Magli (IT)Jacques De Mouzon (FR)Miodrag Stojkovic (RS)Anne-Maria Suikkari (FI)Etienne Van den Abbeel (BE)Ex-officio membersLuca Gianaroli (IT)(Past Chairman)Françoise Shenfield (GB)(SIG Sub-committee)FOCUS ON REPRODUCTIONEDITORIAL COMMITTEEBruno Van den EedeHans EversRoy FarquharsonJoep GeraedtsLuca GianaroliMilan Macek Jr.Juha TapanainenAnna VeigaSøren ZiebeSimon Brown (Editor)Focus on Reproductionis published byThe European Society of HumanReproduction and EmbryologyMeerstraat 60Grimbergen, Belgiumwww.eshre.euAll rights reserved.The opinions expressed in thismagazine are those of theauthors and/or persons interviewedand do not necessarily reflect theviews of ESHRE.JANUARY 2012Cover picture:Science Photo LibraryCONTENTSFocus onREPRODUCTION• Chairman’s introductionThe scientific heart of our society is driven by the SpecialInterest Groups, Task Forces and Working Groups, and anew Working Group on culture media within the SIGsEmbryology and Safety and Quality in ART has recentlybeen put in place. Its goals are to establish contacts withthe culture media manufacturers to provide clearerinformation to professionals, to develop guidelines onculture media requirements, and to promote basic researchin this field. Experts have been invited to join the WorkingGroup and to develop an ESHRE consensus position paperfor Human Reproduction. As an embryologist, I believe that the contribution ofESHRE on this matter will be of paramount importance and I applaud theinitiative of, among others, Arne Sunde, the Working Group co-ordinator.Another important project in progress is our collaboration with the EuropeanAssociation of Tissue Banks (EATB) and the European Eye Banks Association. Werecently organised a very well attended session on ART at the EATB meeting inBarcelona in November and are now working on a joint project for the training ofinspectors for ART centres and for the European coding system.I am also pleased to say that our ‘star’ project, the ESHRE Study into theEvaluation of oocyte Euploidy by Microarray analysis - ‘ESTEEM’ - co-ordinatedby our past chairman Joep Geraedts, will start in February. This randomised trialwill include 600 PGS cycles performed in seven different European centres andaims to estimate the likelihood of euploid embryos in future ART cycles and toimprove birth rates in older patients. Our partner in the project, the biotechcompany BlueGnome, will provide arrays and technical training. This is ESHRE’sfirst randomised trial for many years, and we expect the results to be of greatimportance.Our relationship with the ASRM continues to progress, with exchange sessionsat our annual meetings and precongress courses representing a fruitfulcollaboration. Joint plans are already advanced for this year’s annual meetings inIstanbul and San Diego. So it gives me great pleasure to invite you to our first jointmeeting of ‘The Best of ASRM and ESHRE’, to be held in Cortina d’Ampezzo,Italy, at the beginning of March. Along with our American colleagues, we haveproduced an attractive scientific and social programme in an exceptional location.Good science and nice skiing will be provided!Anna VeigaESHRE Chairman 2011-2013NEWS4 Annual meeting 2012 Istanbul6 ESHRE news7 Paul Devroey bows out from the VUB8 Regulatory news10 Thirty years since the first hMG birth13 The best of ESHRE and ASRM14 The Whole Man Campus workshop16 From the PGD Consortium17 From the Special Interest Groups24 From the Task ForcesFEATURES27 The urgent need for newsperm biomarkersSheena Lewis asks ifsperm DNA damage is amore reliable diagnostictool than semen analysis31 Conception in HIVinfectedcouplesAugusto Semprinireviews the risksof transmissionand the appropriatefertility techniquesFocus on Reproduction January 2012 3