Paulina Pyrek and Linde Rombaut at ESDAR 2025

September 10-13, 2025

Joint 28th Annual European Society for Domestic Animal Reproduction (ESDAR) Conference & 3rd ECAR Symposium | Varna, Bulgaria

September turned out to be a very exciting month for anyone working with mammalian embryos and cryopreservation, with multiple interesting conferences taking place in Europe. It was a tough decision, but in the end, we (CryoStore DCs Linde Rombaut and Paulina Pyrek) decided to attend the Joint 28th Annual European Society for Domestic Animal Reproduction (ESDAR) Conference & 3rd European College of Animal Reproduction (ECAR) Symposium in a beautiful holiday resort, located just by the Black Sea in Bulgaria.

Networking (from left: Linde Rombaut, Regina Walch, Muhittin Tekin, Paulina Pyrek, Pilar Valejo-Soto and Olga Sajecka).

The program was absolutely packed with inspiring lectures and workshops on all aspects of domestic animal reproduction. The keynote lecture by Peter Langendijk (Wageningen University and Research), gave us a completely new perspective on neonate development and its huge impact on reproductive system functionality in adulthood. Equally captivating was Alireza Fazeli’s presentation on extracellular vesicles, which tied in perfectly with the introduction given by Pierre Comizzoli during this year’s CryoStore Summer School at INRAE, Rennes, France. The world of extracellular vesicle research is fascinating and can provide new angles for our own research. We also enjoyed the workshops that broadened our horizons beyond the species we usually work with in our research, focusing on New World Camelids and buffaloes.

The conference was also a great opportunity to network. We were able to listen to other PhD students and ECAR residents presenting their work. Being able to share both challenges and achievements with people who face the same ups and downs is always motivating. It was a pleasure to reconnect with old colleagues from SLU and Ghent University, while expanding our professional network.

On the last day of the conference, we were both honored to be selected for oral communications. Linde presented the results from her PhD research focused on semen extenders for Merino rams, and Paulina discussed the results on thawing modifications in bovine oocyte vitrification protocols. Presenting our work in such an international setting was an amazing opportunity.

Linde Rombaut presenting her research results.

Paulina Pyrek presenting her research results.

Overall, our time at the 28th ESDAR conference & 3rd ECAR Symposium was enriching on both a scientific level, as personally. We left Bulgaria with more knowledge, new contacts and plenty of motivation for the next steps in our research!

CryoStore DCs Paulina Pyrek and Linde Rombaut