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Congratulations to Drs. Rima Slim (McGillU), Teruko Taketo (McGillU), and Cathy Vaillancourt (INRS) for their knowledge mobilization about placenta on Radio Canada-Decouverte program.

The segment is available below.

Placenta : un organe méconnu | Découverte ici.radio-canada.ca

Congratulations to Dr. Sophie Petropoulos (UdeM) and her collaborators for their publication “A comprehensive human embryo reference tool using single-cell RNA-sequencing data” in Nature methods. The article is available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-024-02493-2.

Many thanks to all the participants of the 17th RQR Symposium.

Congratulations to all the winners of the Awards of Excellence.

1. Oral presentations

• MSc : Chika Onochie (McGillU, Cristian O’Flaherty’s lab)
• PhD : Aurore Lebourg (INRS, Maritza Jaramillo’s lab), Natalia Jakuc (UdeM, Gustavo Zamberlam’s lab), Claire Lin (McGillU, Daniel Bernard’s lab), Laureline Charrier (UdeM, Alexandre Boyer’s lab)
• Postdocs : Ricardo Pericin Nociti (UdeM, Lawrence Smith’s lab)

2. Poster presentations

• MSc : Florence Préfontaine (ULaval, Clémence Belleannée’s lab)
• PhD : Hailey Schultz (McGillU, Daniel Bernard’s lab)
• Postdocs : Laurie Pinel (McGillU, Daniel Dufort’s lab)

3. Knowledge transfer prizes

• William Poisson (Université Laval, PhD candidate, Claude Robert’s lab)
• Aurore Lebourg (INRS, PhD candidate, Maritza Jaramillo’s lab)
• Serge McGraw (UdeM, Professeur)

Many thanks to our guest speakers:

• Abdoulaye Baniré Diallo (UQAM)
• Hayda Almeida (UQAM)
• Vahid Naghashi (UQAM)
• Armand Massoua (UQAM)
• Evan Buddle (McGillU)
• Peter Hansen (Past SSR president, University of Florida, FL, USA)
• Anne-Simone Parent (University of Liege, Belgium)
• Jacob Hanna (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)
• Françoise Baylis (Dalhousie University, NS, Canada)
• Rita Vassena (University of Barcelona, Fecundis, Spain)

Many thanks to our Trainee Committee:

• Guillaume Bourdon (Université de Montréal, postdoc fellow)
• Antoine Gillet (INRS, PhD candidate)
• Florine Grudet (Université de Montréal, PhD candidate)
• Natalia Jakuc (Université de Montréal, PhD candidate)
• Jairo Penagos (Université de Montréal, MSc candidate)
• William Poisson (Université Laval, PhD candidate)
• Shaden Salimi (McGill University, MSc candidate)

Many thanks to the judges:

• Sylvie Breton (ULaval)
• Raj Duggavathi (McGillU)
• Alexandre Boyer (UdeM)
• Bernard Robaire (McGillU)
• Robert Viger (ULaval)
• Derek Boerboom (UdeM)
• Clémence Belleannée
• Christopher Price (UdeM)
• Hugh Clarke (McGillU)
• Karine Dufresne (UQAM)
• Guillaume Bourdon (UdeM)
• Julie Brind’Amour (UdeM)
• Gustavo Zamberlam (UdeM)
• Makoto Nagano (McGillU)
• Daniel Dufort (McGillU)

Many thanks to the chairs:

• Marc-André Sirard (ULaval)
• Anthony Estienne (UdeM)
• Guillaume Bourdon (UdeM)
• Serge McGraw (UdeM)
• Thomas Dupas (UdeM)
• Bernard Robaire (McGillU)
• Clémence Belleannée (ULaval)
• Hugh Clarke (McGillU)
• Christopher Price (UdeM)
• Filip Vasilev (UdeM)

Finally, our thanks go to the administration, steering and scientific committees, the organizing committee, and the volunteers.

You will find some memories of 2024 below.

Congratulations to all RQR members who were worthy representatives of the network at the 57^th meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction from July 15 to 19, 2024 in Dublin, Ireland.

• Recipients of RQR travel grants were: Mary Loka (PhD candidate with Daniel Bernard, McGillU), Michael Berube (PhD candidate with Derek Boerboom, UdeM), Florine Grudet (PhD candidate with Derek Boerboom, UdeM), Natalia Jakuc (PhD candidate with Gustavo Zamberlam, UdeM), Karine Doiron (Postdoc fellow with Serge McGraw, UdeM), Florence Gagnon (PhD candidate with Nicolas Gévry, UdeS).
• Memories of the meeting are on social media…

Congratulations to Dr. Makoto Nagano (McGillU) on the approval of his NIH R01 grant application.

• Project title: “Spermatogonial stem cell transplantation and culture in patients”,
• Investigators: K. Orwig (U. Pittsburgh) as NPA and Makoto Nagano as co-PI 
• Amount: 5 years, $2,494,748US requested
• This study will develop technologies to identify and isolate human male germline stem cells and then to propagate them in vitro. This project also includes a clinical trial component to transplant the stem cells, which were harvested from childhood cancer patients and cryopreserved for more than a decade, back into the cancer survivors, in order for them to become able to conceive genetic children.

Congratulations to Dr. Aimee Ryan (McGillU), Dr. Makoto Nagano (McGillU), and Dr. Enrique Gamero Estévez for their US patent approval titled “CLAUDIN-TARGETING AGENTS AND USES THEREOF”.  

• Patent No.: “17/073,817”  
• These agents transiently disrupt the cell-cell junctions and allow for an efficient delivery of cells and compounds. 

Congratulations to the many RQR members who have been awarded CIHR Project Grant funds. See the huge list below:

Project Title: How do pioneer factors open chromatin?
Principal Investigator: Drouin, Jacques
Institution Paid: Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal
Competition (year/month): 202403
Amounts: $1,235,476

Project Title: Transient disruption of the blood-testis barrier using synthetic anti-claudin compounds in human and pig models: towards improving the efficiency of spermatogonial stem cell transplantation for fertility restoration in pediatric cancer survivors
Principal Investigator: Nagano, Makoto
Co-Investigators: Chan, Peter T; Dobrinski, Ina; Ryan, Aimée K
Institution Paid: Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
Competition (year/month): 202403
Amounts: $1,044,226

Project Title: Multiparametric detection and preventive approaches of cancer treatment-induced epigenetic instability in the male germline
Principal Investigator: Delbes, Geraldine
Co-investigator: Boissonneault, Guylain; Droit, Arnaud; Trasler, Jacquetta M
Institution Paid: INRS – (Québec, QC)
Competition (year/month): 202403
Amounts: $1,009,800

Project Title: Transcriptional regulation of follicle-stimulating hormone production
Principal Investigator: Bernard, Daniel J
Institution Paid: McGill University
Competition (year/month): 202403
Amounts: $998,326

Project Title: Unraveling the role Motile and Immotile Primary Cilia in Efferent Ductule Homeostasis and Male Fertility
Principal Investigator: Belleannée, Clémence
Institution Paid: Université Laval
Competition (year/month): 202403
Amounts: $822,376

Congratulations to all the authors and collaborators on this project!

The RQR-GDR Repro partnership grant offered to Drs. Jocelyn Dubuc (UdeM) and Nicole Picard-Hagen (École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse) by the RQR in 2020 has enabled the implementation of research work on “the identification of prepartum blood metabolite concentrations associated with the subsequent occurrence of placental retention and endometritis during the postpartum period in dairy cows” and the production of the following 2 publications (with more to come):

1. Herd-level associations between the proportion of elevated prepartum nonesterified fatty acid concentrations and postpartum diseases, reproduction, or culling on dairy farms. J. Denis-Robichaud, I. Nicola, H. Chupin, J.-P. Roy, S. Buczinski, V. Fauteux, N. Picard-Hagen, R. Cue, and J. Dubuc: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666910224000085
2. Association between prepartum nonesterified fatty acid serum concentrations and postpartum diseases in dairy cows. I. Nicola, H. Chupin, J.-P. Roy, S. Buczinski, V. Fauteux, N. Picard-Hagen, R. Cue, and J. Dubuc: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030222005525

Congratulations to all the authors and collaborators on this project!

The meeting of dairy producers of the bovine ambulatory clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, UdeM was held on January 31, 2024 in Saint-Hyacinthe. RQR was one of the event’s sponsors. Several RQR members gave lectures:

• Christian Vigneault (Collaborator, BOVITEQ) et al. on assisted reproduction in 2023
• Véronique Ouellet (ULaval) on heat stress in dairy cows in Quebec
• Marianne Villetaz-Robichaud (UdeM) on cow comfort in the era of the new code of practice
• Annie Fréchette (DSAHR) on new health management software and services
• Véronique Fauteux et al (CHUV Bovin, UdeM) on raising awareness of carbon neutrality on dairy farms
• Mauricio Badillo et al (CHUV Bovin, UdeM) on new developments in pharmacy

Congratulations for this knowledge transfer activity. See souvenirs below.

Dr. Nicolas Gevry (UdeS) and Dr. Bruce Murphy (UdeM) obtained a grant of  $937 125 from CIHR for their project titled ” The fertility clock: Regulation of the maintenance and depletion of the ovarian reserve”. Their study will focus on the mechanisms of SF-1 activation of the primordial follicles and its role in preventing ovarian aging and depletion of the ovarian reserve.

To learn more, visit: https://webapps.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/decisions/p/project_details.html?applId=490049&lang=en

Congratulations!