16 March 2021

Newsletter March 2021

The overall goals of EliteOva are to implement ultrasound-guided ovum pick up (OPU) as well as in vitro production (IVP) and genomic selection of embryos in Danish cattle breeding and to secure that the resulting embryos and calves are healthy and the technologies are embraced by the industry and society.

The present Newsletter is a follow up on the latter from September 22, 2020, and serves as common information for the project participants as well as a project update for the Steering Committee.

The next EliteOva Steering Committee meeting will take place on March 23, 2021, the first day of the EliteOva Annual Meeting and due to the COVID-19 situation, it will be a virtual meeting via Zoom.

COVID-19 has had an impact on several of the activities included in EliteOva during 2020. Consequently, the EliteOva Steering Committee and Innovation Fund Denmark have granted a one-year non-cost project extension of EliteOva with the new project end date being November 30, 2022. The rebudget for this extension was completed and approved in December 2020 and a copy was sent to all partners.

Due to the retirement of Poul Hyttel, May 31, 2021, Jan Secher, who has served as Project Leader Trainee in EliteOva, took over the responsibilities as Project Leader on January 1, 2021, and Esben Østrup took over Poul Hyttel’s roles as representative for Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences.

The project partner Embryo Trans Biotech (ETB) is closing and has therefore terminated the collaboration with EliteOva and will no longer participate in the Steering Committee meetings. CEO for ETB, Lotte Strøbech, has initiated three new companies. We would like to thank ETB for its contribution to EliteOva and to wish Lotte Strøbech the best of luck with her new companies.
In vitro production of embryos for EliteOva will continue in new laboratory facilities at Department for Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.

In the following, short updates on the status and further plans of each individual work package (WP) is presented.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stillborn calf derived from IVP and biopsy. The calf weighted 43 kg at necropsy and appeared longer and heavier than usual for neonatal Holstein calves.
Photo: Stillborn calf derived from IVP and biopsy. The calf weighted 43 kg at necropsy and appeared longer and heavier than usual for neonatal Holstein calves.

Conclusion

EliteOva has successfully implemented a set of advanced technologies into an embryo production pipeline that across geographical barriers results in calves on the ground. Generally, calves born during the project appear normal, but three calves from the IVP biopsy group appeared longer and heavier than usual at birth. We have encountered inevitable delays in the project, but have reached the phase, where the cumulative set of technologies including OPU, IVP, BIOPSY, CRYO and ET have resulted in pregnancies. Whereas the BIOPSY procedure had little or no impact on the pregnancy rate, the implementation of CRYO may result in a reduced rate.

Due to the COVID-19 intermission, we were challenged with respect to processing the calves for epigenetic analyses and autopsies, but the last planed autopsy has just been completed and the material has been submitted for RNA sequencing and analyses of DNA methylation and will be shipped for analyses of histone modifications as soon as possible.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank Poul Hyttel for his enormous contribution to EliteOva and wish him all the best with his retirement. I would also like to thank Project Manager Betina W Jensen and Poul Hyttel for keeping meticulous track of the complex management and all EliteOva partners for investing enthusiasm and hard-working hours into the project.

By Poul Hyttel and Jan Secher.