42nd Annual Conference of IETS (International Embryo Technology Society) in Louisville, Kentucky from January 23 - 26 2016. The 42nd Annual Conference of the IETS focused on basic and applied topics in the overall main theme of embryo resilience in the face of biotechnology, including aspects on the effect of the environment on gamete competence and embryo development, differentiation pathways and early embryo developmental competence, impact of events between ET and pregnancy recognition on pregnancy outcome and/or early embryo mortality and long term consequences of early developmental events. Marilin Ivask from EMU/UT and Elina Mark from EMU participated in the conference. New research results in the field of producing in vitro bovine embryos were introduced. Moreover, the conference provided several new contacts and potential collaborating partners for researchers. Marilin Ivask participated as a co-author of the poster titled "Improved post-thaw survival of bovine embryos produced in serum-free in vitro production system" (http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US201600048186).