The Doctorate Programme "Biology and Reproductive Health Technology (REPROBIOL)" is an ambitious specialised postgraduate training programme in the field of human and animal reproduction, for graduates from the different branches of Health Sciences.
This programme is the result of adapting the Doctoral Programme with Mention for Excellence "Biology and Technology of Reproduction in Mammals" to the new regulations (Ref. MEE2011-0019).
The general objective of the programme is to train doctors who can generate new knowledge for the solution of reproductive problems and who are able to transfer this new basic and technological knowledge to specialised professional centres.
At national level, some 22 PhD lecturers participate in REPROBIOL, but there is also a large number of foreign researchers from different entities that currently have agreements with the programme, such as Ghent University (UGent, Belgium), University College Dublin (UCD, Ireland), University of Okayama (OU, Japan), University of Bonn (UNI-BONN, Germany) and the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA, Spain). Additionally, we count on the collaboration of other research centres and universities such as the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA-Tours, France), University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass, USA), Minimal Invasion Surgery Center Jesús Usón (CCMIJU, Spain), Valencian Institute of Infertility (IVI, Spain), Harvard University (Harvard, USA) and Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM, USA) for the specific training of students in different techniques.
What objectives does REPROBIOL pursue and what is its field of research?
The general objective of the programme is to train doctors who can generate new knowledge for the solution of reproductive problems and who are able to transfer this new basic and technological knowledge to specialised professional centres.
In recent decades, Assisted Reproduction Techniques (ARTs), as well as strategies to improve reproductive health, both in humans and in farm animals, have acquired a greater role in society due to the high impact they have on economic, psychological, and social well-being. In humans, the WHO estimates that infertility affects 20% of couples in developed countries, with this figure increasing year upon year. In developing countries, it is estimated that infertility affects more than one in four childbearing-age women. Some of the main causes of infertility, especially in Europe and North America, are obesity, stress, drugs, smoking or alcohol, sexually transmitted infections and increasing age for first-time pregnancy. This has led to the creation of assisted reproductive clinics around the world in order to help couples to procreate by different methods, including reproductive health management, infertility treatments (hormone therapy, artificial insemination (AI), in vitro fertilisation (IVF), embryo transfer (ET) or gynaecological interventions). On the other hand, more and more public hospitals are including assisted reproduction technologies among their services.
In domestic mammals, the situation is different, but not less relevant. AI is well established in species such as pigs (with up to 90% of sows being artificially inseminated) with fertility results similar to natural mating. In dairy cattle, success is similar in AI with proven fertility semen, but with a lower gestation rate (60%) due to embryonic losses. In contrast, the results are not as effective in other species as sheep or goats, mainly due to the anatomical characteristics of the cervix, which hinder the insemination process. In horses, cats and dogs, AI is limited to individual cases of high emotional or economic value. At the same time, the use of this technology results in an increase in farm productivity and in economic benefits for the farmers. Other technologies such as IVF or ET are still used primarily in the research context, with few commercial application exceptions. Thus, while the commercial and productive interest in the cow is very high, IVF and ET in porcine species are still far from reaching a similar level. Data from the International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS, www.iets.org) on the progressive increase in the number of embryo transfers in sheep, goats, horses and cervids (mainly in Australia, China and New Zealand) have shown that if these embryos could be efficiently obtained under in vitro conditions, the incorporation of this technology into the productive sector would be immediate. Its potential applications include increased efficiency in animal production (through sex control on farms, use of genomics for marker-assisted selection), a contribution to the preservation of endangered breeds, and some applications in biomedicine related to the cloning of transgenic animals or for xeno-transplantation. Nevertheless, obtaining embryos collected in vivo, under certain sanitary conditions, guarantees the export of embryos free of specific pathogens between countries where the exchange of live animals is limited for health reasons.
The great advantage of the collaboration between professionals in medicine, veterinary medicine and biological sciences is clearly reflected in the creation of a high-quality training programme: it is not possible to progress in any branch of human medicine without rigorous research to back it up and said research is very often carried out in animal models. Nonetheless, the development of sophisticated equipment or synthetic drugs for animals and for veterinary research is often derived from the human pharmaceutical industry.
The potential benefits of a common medical-veterinary-biological programme for doctoral students include an increase in future employment opportunities, a broader and higher level of education and a greater range of skills and competences to be acquired to meet current challenges.
