Professor Carlos Simón
Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Valencia
Professor Simón earned his MD with an Award of Excellence from Valencia University in 1985 and has been a member of the Board of Certified Obstetrics and Gynecology since 1991. Professor Simón completed his PhD at Valencia University and received a postdoctoral grant for a Fellowship on Reproductive Immunology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University, California (USA) between 1991 and 1994.
On returning to Spain, he received a research grant from the Spanish government for ten projects, a grant for four projects from the Valencian government, one grant from the Basque government and support for an additional twelve projects from international organisations and American universities.
His current positions are: Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Valencia (UV), Director of Fundación IVI (FIVI), Scientific Director at Prince Felipe Research Center (CIPF) and Director of the Valencia Node of the Spanish Stem Cells Bank at CIPF.
About Dr Simόn’s GFI Project
Although embryo quality is considered the main determinant for successful implantation, an appropriate receptive endometriun is also required. The analysis of endometrial secretions is a new, non-disruptive possibility for endometrial receptivity diagnosis. Importantly, the aspiration of endometrial fluid does not affect pregnancy rates (van der Gaast et al, 2002), provides reliable read-outs of individual proteins correlating with day of cycle (van der Gaast et al, 2009; Simón et al, 1996), and has proven efficient in protein arrays using a luminex system (Boomsma et al, 2009).
The main objective of Professor Simón’s winning project - New Non-Invasive Diagnostic Method of Human Endometrial Receptivity - is to develop a non-invasive diagnostic method based on the detection of two specific lipids in the endometrial fluid in the receptive endometrium. Based on the preliminary results, the aim is firstly to understand the production mechanism(s) of two lipids by the endometrial epithelium, the dynamics of their receptors in the embryo, and to clarify the mechanisms involved in the embryonic arrest and/or implantation impairment after pharmacological or genetic blockage of their receptors.
