Dear SBTE members, attendees and friends,

It is a great pleasure to invite you all to the XXXV Brazilian Society of Embryo Technology (SBTE) Annual Meeting that will be held in Foz do Iguaçu-PR from August 18 to 21, 2022. During the last two years of pandemic and social distancing we managed to keep SBTE scientific activities alive with online events, such as the 2020 SBTE Annual Meeting and the 2021 SBTE workshop series. These were important initiatives to keep us safely connected, but the social void remained. After this challenging period, we will resume our on-site meeting to rescue everything that SBTE represents in terms of science, technology, interaction and friendship.

The scientific program, specially selected in 2020 and improved since then, will feature excellent national and international speakers. Novel agricultural scenarios, concepts and technologies in the different areas of reproductive biology and biotechnology will be discussed. A novelty of this Annual Meeting will be the itinerant nature of the workshops. Our journey will begin in the city of São Paulo-SP with a pre-event consisting of two workshops, a SBTE Technology workshop on pregnancy loss in artificial insemination, embryo transfer and in vitro embryo production programs and a SBTE Science workshop on xenotransplantation and regenerative medicine. Afterwards, we will head from São Paulo to Foz do Iguaçu to the main SBTE meeting with the traditional workshops, plenary sessions, roundtables, poster sessions, competitions and exhibitions of partner companies. Another innovation of this meeting will be the presentation of selected abstracts from the Best Work category, as well as flash talks on the days of the plenary sessions.

The first day of the main meeting will feature workshops on beef cattle reproduction, dairy cattle reproduction, cellular and molecular aspects in oocytes and embryos as well as male reproduction. On this day we will have the SBTE opening with Prof. Dr. Flávio Vieira Meirelles (FMVZ, USP) and the opening lecture with Prof. Dr. Cesare Galli (AVANTEA, Italy), president of the IETS (International Embryo Transfer Society) who will address the world panorama of embryo production. On the second day of the meeting, we will bring Dr. Osler Desouzart (ODConsulting) to discuss meat market challenges and Dr. Roberto Giolo (EMBRAPA) with updates on low-carbon livestock farming. This will be followed by the SBTE Technology lectures, with Dr. Daniela Demétrio (Riverdale, USA) and Prof. Dr. Ky G. Pohler (Texas A&M, USA), to discuss approaches to optimize pregnancy rates and reduce pregnancy losses in cattle. Prof. Dr. Fábio Lima (University of California, USA) will address strategies for prevention and management of uterine diseases and Prof. Dr. Sofia Ortega (University of Missouri, USA) will close the plenary session with a lecture on bull fertility. After the SBTE Technology plenary sessions we will have SBTE poster session with the selection of the best abstracts on the Student Competition and Best Work categories. The third day of the meeting will be dedicated to the SBTE Science plenary sessions, focusing on animal models to study reproductive biology and translational research. This day will feature lectures on genetically modified porcine models for disease by Prof. Dr. Eckhard Wolf (LudwigMaximilians-Universität, Germany), on mouse embryo genome editing by Prof. Dr. Bin Gu (Michigan State University, USA) and on placenta-specific genes in a sheep model by Prof. Dr. Gerrit Bouma (Colorado State University, USA). On this last day we will also discuss the contributions of the gamete to embryonic development and developmental programming with Prof. Dr. Peter Sutovsky (University of Missouri, USA) who will address paternal contributions to the mammalian embryo and Prof. Dr. Kevin D. Sinclair (University of Nottingham, England) who will discuss aspects of periconceptional epigenetic programming in livestock. As we approach to the end of our journey, we will also have the Student Competition presentations and the SBTE General Assembly.

The SBTE Scientific Board would like to thank everyone who contributed to SBTE turning this meeting into a great opportunity for dissemination of knowledge and confraternization. We would also like to thank the speakers and abstract authors for their scientific and technological roles. We also thank our funding agencies CNPq, CAPES and FAPESP, the abstract Judging Committees, moderators and everyone who contributed to the publication of the SBTE proceedings. Among these, we would like to highlight our thanks to the area coordinators, abstract reviewers, Editorial Committee of the Animal Reproduction journal, the Brazilian College of Animal Reproduction (CBRA) and the support team. We would like to thank the dedication and work of all the members of the 2020-2022 SBTE Board and staff.

Best regards,

Fabíola Freitas de Paula-Lopes

Rogério Fonseca Guimarães Peres

SBTE Scientific Board

2020-2022