Media

• Publications
• Latest News

CLASS Podcast

Listen to this week's CLASS lecture by Prof. Pat Lonergan, UCD on 'Understanding embryo mortality in cattle' (50 minutes)

The majority of pregnancy loss in beef and dairy cattle occurs during very early pregnancy (prior to Day 16). Most losses are characterised by asynchrony between the blastocyst/conceptus and uterus or endometrial dysfunction, resulting in defective conceptus development and/or placentation.  We have made significant progress in clarifying the role the maternal environment, in particular the role of progesterone, in the successful establishment of pregnancy. Despite this significant progress, we still have only a rudimentary knowledge of the genes and pathways governing growth and development of the conceptus itself; specifically, we still do not know the functional mechanisms through which maternally derived molecules regulate embryonic development. Current studies are focussed on better understanding theembryo-maternal dialogue leading up to the time of maternal recognition of pregnancy in an effort to optimise embryo survival.

  Click to listen (50 minutes)