ESR Blog post #4 "Visit to CRV center, Netherlands: teamwork and what a great cattle IVF lab looks like"

Hi! This is Camilla (ESR8) and Andrea (ESR11) from Gent University, and we are extremely enthusiastic to share with you our first visit to the CRV breeding center in the Netherlands.

All Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) must conduct secondments as a part of our training in EUROVA and my first secondment (Camilla’s) will start soon in CRV. But despite our different research objectives, Andrea kindly accepted to be my partner in crime for this experience. So, we rented a car, we made a killer playlist for the trip, and we set off on a new adventure. Felt like Thelma and Louise on the road!

During the last week of September 2021, we spent 4 days in Wirdum, a small rural village in the province of Groningen in the Netherlands, where the CRV facilities are based. Over the first two days, we took part in many things such as inspecting the animals in the barns, visiting the ovum pick-up (OPU) station with state-of-the-art facilities where expert teams are working. We were very lucky to be able to attend many OPU sessions live and from the front row. Super! However, the thing that most impressed us was visiting the laboratory area. These laboratories are flawless: the whole space has been designed by the people working there and it is furnished with the latest equipment and systems. The dream of every embryologist! We were particularly interested to see the IVF process, and to follow how the embryo biopsy and oocyte/embryo steps are performed by the experienced embryologists of the breeding company.

We were amazed how organised they must be while working in that area.

Wait! It's not over yet! We didn't go there just to have a look around; we had a wonderful hands-on experience in the last two days with the collection of oocytes from live animals in the lab. The aim of this trial was to test the hormonal stimulation protocol and the lab protocol for future experiments, so we practiced a bit in these amazing labs. We started very early in the morning, and we were a little bit nervous to work with such a valuable sample, but our teamwork made the dream work and in the end everything went well.

This experience gave us a realistic representation of how working in the industry field is and what being involved in a company means. We would like to thank everyone at CRV company in Wirdum for being so welcoming, considerate, kind and helpful.

See you soon CRV!