EDITORIAL Folliculogenesis and oogenesis: from basic science to the clinic

From germ cell to fertilizable oocyte is a journey that captures the essence of MHR: a quest to understand the basic science of reproduc-tive medicine. In view of the rapid developments in molecular biology and genetics, a major goal of ESHRE in recent years has been to provide clinicians, counsellors, embryologists and the public with novel research findings of relevance to assisted reproduction technol-ogies (ART). In this spirit, the ESHRE Campus workshop in Potsdam in October 2009 on ‘Mammalian Folliculogenesis and Oogenesis: from basic science to the clinic ’ was dedicated to fundamental research in an area that is increasingly affecting clinical practice. The meeting was well attended (Fig. 1) and eight invited speakers submitted manu-scripts for peer review and collation into this thematic issue of MHR, the key messages of which are highlighted below. Møllgård et al. (2010) open with a novel perspective on how human primordial germ cells (PGCs) first visible in the wall of the embryoni