Dear Colleague,

The 14th International PGD conference, will be organized in Chicago, May 11-13, 2014 (see PGDIS website www.pgdis.org) and devoted to the 25th Anniversary of PGD.

The Scientific Program of the Conference will concentrate on the two major areas requiring the Society's expert position. One area will involve a critical review of the current experience of the application of recent technological developments into PGD practice, with the main emphasis on their advantages and disadvantages, and of particular importance, any limitations towards the development of a universal PGD test for monogenic and chromosomal disorders. The other area will address the clinical challenges in the application of these technical developments to improve PGD reproductive outcome, which may depend not solely on the embryo nuclear genotype, but also on cytoplasmic patterns and follicular environment, COS regiments and improvement of endometrial status.

The program will also contain the topics that have never been addressed sufficiently in any of the previous PGDIS Conferences. One topic involves the analysis of complicated PGD cases, such as PGD for de novo mutations or multiple indications, requiring the development of family-specific test designs and review of the attempts for the development of molecular protocols for avoiding potentially high misdiagnosis rates, with the current shift from the traditional direct PGD to testing following whole genome amplification (WGA). The other special session will address patient perspectives, with presentation of the examples of miracle success stories demonstrating the PGD implications for treatment of congenital and acquired disorders via HLA matched stem cell transplantation.

Due to considerable recent progress in NGS, particularly in preimplantation 24-chromosome aneuploidy testing, which in the future may provide the basis for a universal PGD for both single gene and chromosomal disorders in one test, a special Pre-Congress Workshop on NGS-based PGD will be organized on May 10, 2015, in collaboration with Illumina. The Workshop will be held in the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), which is the venue of the Conference.

The other Pre-congress Workshop will be devoted to PGD for Monogenic and Chromosomal Disorders by Blastocyst Biopsy, and, as usual, will be held in Istanbul, May 7-9, 2015, in collaboration with PGD Center of Istanbul Memorial Hospital. This Hands-On Workshop will provide further support to the ongoing shift and growing demand for blastocyst biopsy, combined with novel methods for genetic testing (see www.pgdis.org).

As mentioned, the Congress will be organized in Downtown Chicago, next to John Hancock Center, which is an excellent venue, especially delightful in spring. Registration fees are the lowest, compared to previous PGDIS Conferences, with the hotel accommodation arranged at a special low price in Ritz Carlton and Raffaello hotels, which are in two-minutes walking distance from MCA.

The progress in the organization of the Conference may be followed in the websites of PGDIS (www.pgdis.org), or Vega Travel International (www.vegatravel.net) - the organizing secretariat of the PGDIS Chicago Conference, May 11-13, 2015.

We are looking forward to welcoming you in Chicago!

Sincerely,