Reproductive biology research group

Science does not consist only of lab experiments or data analysis. The majority of scientists spend a considerable time and energy applying for funding to carry out their research ideas. However, there are many ideas in the world, and it is therefore important to stand out on paper to get funded.

Writing is a skill as any other and can be improved by practice. Students can write funding applications as well: study stipends, travel grants or student exchange programs are already motivating, but they are also a good opportunity for safe practice.

The research group of reproductive biology is glad to announce that our bachelor´s student Katariina Johanna Saretok received the Rotalia Foundation Stipend that is meant for successful BSc and MSc level students. More information about the Foundation can be found here (in Estonian only).

Congratulations, Katariina!

The reproductive biology research group at the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology attended the annual conference of the Estonian Society of Human Genetics in Pärnu, Estonia. The conference is notable, as it brings together Estonia-speaking scientists from all over the country as well as from abroad. Our PhD student Kristine Roos gave a talk on the cell subtypes in the human ovary that affect the outcome of ovarian stimulation before IVF. Her presentation received the best young researcher´s award. Congratulations!

In January 2022 the PI of our reproductive biology research group Agne Velthut-Meikas visited professor Christiani Andrade Amorim at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) to negotiate future collaboration projects. Agne held a seminar to the colleagues at UCL on the topic of “Intercellular communication in the ovarian follicle revealed by transcriptomics". In addition, she had an opportunity to visit the lab lead by professor Amorim and observe the isolation of individual follicles from human ovarian cortex.

The research group of professor Amorim creates and tests 3-dimensional matrices that would support the growth and development of oocytes outside of the ovary. Such tissue cultures would aid patients that have cryopreserved their ovarian tissue prior to undergoing a gonadotoxic treatment – for example cancer patients, whose oocytes would perish as a result of therapy.

Friday December 10th was a day of celebration for our research group, as Ilmatar Rooda successfully defended her PhD thesis titled “Intercellular Signalling in the Human Pre-ovulatory Follicle: microRNA

Expression in Granulosa Cells and Detection in the Follicular Fluid”. The supervisors of the thesis were Agne Velthut-Meikas (TalTech) and Andres Salumets (University of Tartu, Karolinska Institutet, Competence Center on Health Technologies). We wish to thank all the collaborators over the years of Ilmatar´s studies and wish her all the best for her future career.

The PhD thesis can be accessed here: https://digikogu.taltech.ee/en/Item/d09b2c05-d078-4135-8883-450d9ff3215e