We are pleased to welcome you all to the XXXIV SBTE Annual Meeting. This year the SBTE Board had the challenge to reinvent the 2020 SBTE meeting against all the odds. The worldwide pandemics led us through an unexpected change to an online format in order to keep our traditional meeting alive.

The SBTE program was adapted to the online format. We prepared a special scientific program with high-quality speakers to discuss novel concepts and data in the different areas of reproductive biology and biotechnology, maintaining the balance between basic (SBTE Science) and applied (SBTE Technology) sciences. A pre-congress was set up a week before the main event to invite our community to SBTE together with a taste from what is yet to come. The principal venue of the congress will remain as traditional: plenary sessions, round tables, posters sessions, competitions and exhibitions. For the plenary sessions we will have exciting topics discussed by renowned scientists.

The embryo will be the focus of the opening and closing plenary sessions. Dr. Pascale Chavatte-Palmer (INRA, France), the International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS) president, will discuss the panorama of embryo production in the world. From the embryo we will go to the uterine environment with Dr. Mario Binelli (University of Florida, USA) discussing the contribution of the endometrium to the success of pregnancy in beef cows. The next day will continue with Dr. José Eduardo PortelaSantos (University of Florida, USA) presenting the impacts of transition period optimization on reproductive performance of dairy cows and Dr. José Luiz Moraes Vasconcelos (UNESP, Brazil) debating about reproductive strategies in beef females. The last plenary session will bring us back to the embryo with Dr. Luiz Sergio Camargo (EMBRAPA, Brazil) explaining the interesting topic of embryo gene editing by CRISPR/Cas9.

The plenary sessions will be followed by poster presentations carried out in a unique online format. Abstracts will be presented as PDF posters and videos, allowing all the participants to have the opportunity to read the posters and watch the videos even before the beginning of meeting. We will also have the traditional student competitions as well as the selection of the best basic, applied and field studies. This year, the winners for basic, applied and field studies will have the opportunity to present their work during the plenary sessions. All this scientific content will be followed by discussions using our online tools. Also, the SBTE Workshops on in vitro embryo production, dairy and beef cattle management will occur throughout the year after the main event.

The Scientific Committee would like to thank all the speakers and authors for their contributions and for accepting this challenge together with SBTE. We are grateful to everyone that contributed to publish the SBTE Proceedings. Among them we would like to highlight the coordinators and reviewers of abstracts, the reviewers of scientific papers, the editorial committee of the journal Animal Reproduction, the Brazilian College of Animal Reproduction and all the support staff. We would like to express our gratitude to the dedication and hard work of all members of the SBTE Board that had the courage to start over few months before the meeting.

The dissemination of technological and scientific knowledge is a major goal for SBTE. The passion to learn reproductive biology and biotechnology is the common ground that keeps the SBTE members together. It does not matter whether it is basic science or technology because these major areas are different pieces of a complex puzzle that lead to improved reproductive performance in different species. The SBTE 2020 brings to you a new way to discuss science, exchange knowledge and establish collaborations among researchers and professionals in animal reproduction and related sciences.

Join us for SBTE 2020 online gathering and science!

Scientific Committee
Fabíola Freitas de Paula Lopes
Rogério Fonseca Guimarães Peres