Some of Ontario's leading reproductive biologists will gather at McMaster for the 35th annual Southern Ontario Reproductive Biology (SORB) workshop. The day-long symposium hosted by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is taking place on Friday, May 4 in Celebration Hall.

The annual event attracts professors and their graduate students from the Universities of Guelph, Toronto, Waterloo and Western Ontario as well as McMaster and York Universities and occasionally Queen's, Ottawa and the Metro Toronto Zoo. Ninety participants have registered.

The workshop provides a venue for scientists to develop collaborations and to meet students seeking research opportunities in reproductive biology.

Most of the presentations are from young investigators and includes oral and poster presentations ranging from gamete physiology to early pregnancy and stem cells to ovarian cancer and the effects of the environment on reproductive processes.

The programme begins at 9 a.m. with a keynote lecture by Dr. Mick Bhatia, scientific director and senior scientist, McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute, titled Cellular and Molecular characterization of human embryonic stem cells.