{"id":2498,"date":"2026-03-21T23:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T23:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/?page_id=2498"},"modified":"2026-10-29T19:36:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T19:36:02","slug":"2026-program-human-egg-activation-pathways","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/2026-program-human-egg-activation-pathways\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/2026-symposium\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"2475\">Event Info<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/2026-speaker-bios\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"2563\">Speaker Bios<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>8:30 AM \u2013 Check-in and Continental Breakfast<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-luminous-vivid-amber-color\">9:00 AM \u2013<strong> Session<\/strong> <strong>1<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>9:00 AM &#8211; <strong>Ann A. Kiessling, PhD<\/strong>, Bedford Research Foundation<br>Title: &#8220;Introduction and &#8220;Why do fewer than 4% of human eggs collected develop to babies?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>9:20 AM &#8211; <strong>Keynote: Evelyn Telfer<\/strong>, BSc, PhD, CBE, FRSB, The University of Edinburgh<br>Title: &#8220;Growing Old Eggs and Making New Ones: The Promise and Challenges of In Vitro Gametogenesis ands Growth&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>10:20 AM \u2013 Coffee Break &amp; Posters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-luminous-vivid-amber-color\">10:50 AM \u2013\u00a0<strong>Session<\/strong> <strong>2<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>11:00 AM \u2013 <strong>Jonathan Van Blerkom, PhD<\/strong>, University of Colorado Boulder, &#8220;Can Focal Thermodynamic Instabilities in the Subplasmalemmal Cytoplasm Effect Adjacent Oolemmal Domains that Become Refractory to Fertilization?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>11:45 AM \u2013 <strong>Rafael Fissore, PhD<\/strong>, UMass at Amherst, &#8220;Egg Activation and Early Development: Orchestrating Multiple Ion Channels and Divalent Cations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>12:20 PM \u2013 Lunch &amp; Posters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-luminous-vivid-amber-color\">1:30 PM \u2013&nbsp;<strong>Session 3<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1:30 PM &#8211; <strong>Dietrich M. Egli, PhD<\/strong>, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, &#8220;A Stressful Beginning &#8212; Genome Stability in the Mammalian Embryo&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2:10 PM \u2013 <strong>Ehsan Habibi, PhD<\/strong>, University of Ottawa, &#8220;Deciphering the Molecular Logic of Human Embryogenesis&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2:50 PM \u2013 Coffee Break &amp; Poster<\/strong> <strong>Session<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-luminous-vivid-amber-color\">3:10 PM \u2013\u00a0<strong>Session 4<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>3:10 PM \u2013 <strong>Vicki Losick, PhD<\/strong>, Boston College, \u201cThe role and regulation of polyploidy in health and disease\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3:50 PM \u2013 <strong>Ali H. Brivanlou, PhD<\/strong>, The Rockefeller University, &#8220;Model Systems for Studying Chromosome Instability in Early Human Development&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-luminous-vivid-amber-color\">4:30 PM \u2013\u00a0<strong>Panel Discussion<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>4:30 PM &#8211; Panel Discussion with: \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ali H. Brivanlou, PhD<\/strong>, The Rockefeller University<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Vicki Losick, PhD<\/strong>, Boston College<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ehsan Habibi, PhD<\/strong>, University of Ottawa<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dietrich M. Egli, PhD<\/strong>, Columbia University Irving Medical Center<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rafael Fissore, PhD<\/strong>, UMass at Amherst<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jonathan Van Blerkom, PhD<\/strong>, University of Colorado Boulder<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>David M. Keefe, MD<\/strong>, UMass Memorial Health<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Evelyn Telfer<\/strong>, BSc, PhD, CBE, FRSB, The University of Edinburgh<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ann A. Kiessling, PhD<\/strong>, Bedford Research Foundation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>5:00 PM \u2013 Happy Hour &amp; Poster<\/strong> <strong>Session<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>6:00 PM \u2013 Dinner<\/strong> <strong>&amp; Dinner Speaker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dinner Speaker: <strong>Elizabeth Carr<\/strong>, America&#8217;s First IVF Baby &#8211; Author and Advocate, &#8220;Can an Algorithm Be Ethical? As artificial intelligence becomes part of embryo selection, where does ethical responsibility begin\u2014and where does it end?&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"599\" data-id=\"249\" src=\"https:\/\/bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5555.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5555.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5555-600x513.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5555-300x257.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"517\" data-id=\"248\" src=\"https:\/\/bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5476.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5476.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5476-600x443.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5476-300x222.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"548\" data-id=\"243\" src=\"https:\/\/bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5412.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-243\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5412.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5412-600x470.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5412-300x235.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"551\" data-id=\"245\" src=\"https:\/\/bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5418.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5418.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5418-600x472.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5418-300x236.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"434\" data-id=\"246\" src=\"https:\/\/bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5424.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5424.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5424-600x372.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5424-300x186.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" data-id=\"252\" src=\"https:\/\/bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5714.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-252\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5714.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5714-600x426.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5714-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/GEP5714-768x545.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Email questions to:&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:aes@bedfordresearch.org\">aes@bedfordresearch.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Event Info | Speaker Bios 8:30 AM \u2013 Check-in and Continental Breakfast 9:00 AM \u2013 Session 1 10:20 AM \u2013 Coffee Break &amp; Posters 10:50 AM \u2013\u00a0Session 2 12:20 PM \u2013 Lunch &amp; Posters 1:30 PM \u2013&nbsp;Session 3 2:50 PM \u2013 Coffee Break &amp; Poster Session 3:10 PM \u2013\u00a0Session 4 4:30 PM \u2013\u00a0Panel Discussion 5:00 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2498","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2498"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2852,"href":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2498\/revisions\/2852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bedfordresearch.org\/symposium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}