8th Meeting of the “Nordic Centre for Fertility Preservation in Children after Cancer Treatment"

NORDFERTIL (www.nordfertil.org) is a joint effort by experts (scientists and clinicians) in the Nordic and Baltic countries to create a network of excellence with the aim to preserve future fertility and hormonal function in young boys with disorders threatening testicular function. Research projects connected to the project will generate a large body of basic information on human gametogenesis. The regulation which has been extremely difficult to study earlier. The knowledge gained will enable us to generate new research models of human gametogenesis. Pre-pubertal boys with childhood cancer will have testicular tissue taken before chemotherapy will be probably the first real benefiters. In 2012 we established Nordfertil to initiate and form a “joint force” research strategy for fertility preservation of boys undergoing gonadotoxic oncological treatments in the Nordic/Baltic countries. Our network and the 8th annual meeting will focus on: a) Evaluation of all requirements needed to combine human testicular biopsies into a common research project and common high quality control procedure (ethical, legal and logistical issues); b) Evaluation and conclusions of first results regarding different techniques for differentiating early male germ cells as well as effects of treatments on germ cell numbers; c) Establishment and implementation of new registration forms together with our collaborators in Edinburgh, UK to ensure better service for patients.