Cellular and molecular events surrounding blastocyst implantation: report on a NICHD meeting, Bethesda, MD, USA, 15-16 November 1999.

This meeting, supported by the Reproductive Sciences Branch, Center for Population Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIH, was held to achieve dual purposes: (1) the evaluation of the ongoing National Cooperative Program on Markers of Uterine Receptivity for Blastocyst Implantation and (2) to update our knowledge of blastocyst implantation research. The Cooperative Program was evaluated as being highly successful, with good productivity, rapid exchange of information, and remarkable progress. Our knowledge of many molecules that concern interactions between blastocyst and maternal tissues was also updated as a result of the meeting.