Dr. Chloë De Roo (MD, PhD)

OTC with autotransplantation is the only fertility-preservation option for prepubertal girls and for women who cannot delay gonadotoxic treatment, and uniquely restores both fertility and endocrine function. Its wider use is blocked by one important safety concern: cryopreserved cortex may harbor malignant cells, which is highly probable in acute leukemia, neuroblastoma and Burkitt lymphoma, and contamination can persist in apparent remission. Transplantation is therefore withheld from exactly those patients at greatest risk of gonadotoxicity. Current safety-testing approaches (histology/IHC, RT-qPCR, flow cytometry, and xenografting) consume finite therapeutic tissue, are insensitive to rare malignant cells, depend on a predefined tumor marker, and, most importantly, analyze tissue fragments other than the intended transplant fragment. Consequently, focal malignant infiltration within the transplanted tissue may remain undetected.
 

Chloë De Roo concluded her medical studies at the University of Ghent, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine in 2012 and combined her specialization in gynecology – obstetrics with fundamental and applied scientific research in order to obtain a PhD degree in fertility preservation, focusing on ovarian tissue cryopreservation. She is currently active as a staff member at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine at the Ghent University Hospital. Her main focus is fertility preservation.
She developed partnerships with national and international clinical and scientific partners, successfully resulting in strong collaborations, clinical guidelines and A1 publications. She is an active member of the Dutch-Belgian advisory board on Cancer, Infertility and Pregnancy (ABCIP) and she is Belgians national representative for clinicians in the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).
 

• In-vitro fragmentation of ovarian tissue activates primordial follicles through the Hippo pathway. Hum Reprod Open. 2020 Nov 16;2020(4):hoaa048. doi: 10.1093/hropen/hoaa048. PMID: 33225076; PMCID: PMC7668399.
• The Impact of Systemic Oncological Treatments on the Fertility of Adolescents and Young Adults—A Systematic Review. Life 2023, 13, 1209. 
• Age At Cancer Diagnosis and Its Impact on Fertility After Systemic Oncological Treatment in Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult (Caya) Cancer Survivors – A Systematic Review. Archives of Internal Medicine Research. 7 (2024): 297-320.
   

• Lab address: Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent
• UZ website