EWG: Male subfertility work-up
Lars Björndahl
EWG: Male subfertility work-up
Lars Björndahl, MD, PhD, Specialist in Laboratory Medicine (Clinical Chemistry)
Centre for Andrology and Sexual Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
Dr Lars Björndahl, born in 1957, did his graduate (1976-82) and post graduate studies (1982-86) at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. His Ph.D. thesis (1986) comprised studies on the structural stability of the human sperm chromatin and the dependence on zinc.
After finishing clinical training as physician Björndahl participated in the organization of a Clinical Andrology Laboratory at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, which was a part of the Reproductive Medicine Centre (together with an IVF unit) from 1993. In 2001-2005 Björndahl joined the group of Professor Chris Barratt in Birmingham, UK, before returning to Stockholm and the Centre for Andrology and Sexual Medicine at the Karolinska University Hospital and the Karolinska Institutet.
Björndahl was the co-ordinator of the Special Interest Group in Andrology (SIGA) of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) 2004-8, and is presently the co-ordinator of the ESHRE-SIGA Basic Semen Analysis Courses and ESHRE-SIGA External Quality Assessment Programme for Semen Analysis. Since 2009 Björndahl is also scientific secretary of the Swedish Society of Andrology, a section of the The Swedish Society of Medicine.
Björndahl has participated in the development of several manuals for semen analysis including the WHO 5th edition 2010 and is presently a member of the WHO expert group on male subfertility work-up.
Ten most recent publications
- Sánchez-Pozo MC, Mendiola J, Serrano M, Mozas J, Björndahl L, Menkveld R, Lewis SE, Mortimer D, Jørgensen N, Barratt CL, Fernández MF, Castilla JA; on behalf of the Special Interest Group in Andrology (SIGA) of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. Proposal of guidelines for the appraisal of SEMen QUAlity studies (SEMQUA).. Hum Reprod. 2013 Jan;28(1):10-21.
- Björndahl L. Methods for sperm concentration determination. Methods Mol Biol. 2013;927:3-12.
- Palacios ER, Clavero A, Gonzalvo MC, Rosales A, Mozas J, Martínez L, Ramírez JP, Björndahl L, Morancho-Zaragoza J, Fernández-Pardo E, Castilla JA. Acceptable variability in external quality assessment programmes for basic semen analysis. Hum Reprod. 2012 Feb;27(2):314-22.
- Barratt CL, Björndahl L, Menkveld R, Mortimer D. ESHRE special interest group for andrology basic semen analysis course: a continued focus on accuracy, quality, efficiency and clinical relevance. Hum Reprod. 2011 Dec;26(12):3207-12.
- Björndahl L. What is normal semen quality? On the use and abuse of reference limits for the interpretation of semen analysis results. Hum Fertil (Camb). 2011 Sep;14(3):179-86.
- Björndahl L, Kvist U. A model for the importance of zinc in the dynamics of human sperm chromatin stabilization after ejaculation in relation to sperm DNA vulnerability. Syst Biol Reprod Med. 2011 Feb;57(1-2):86-92.
- Castilla JA, Zamora S, Gonzalvo MC, Luna Del Castillo JD, Roldan-Nofuentes JA, Clavero A, Björndahl L, Martínez L. Sperm chromatin structure assay and classical semen parameters: systematic review. Reprod Biomed Online. 2010 Jan;20(1):114-24.
- Barratt CL, Aitken RJ, Björndahl L, Carrell DT, de Boer P, Kvist U, Lewis SE, Perreault SD, Perry MJ, Ramos L, Robaire B, Ward S, Zini A. Sperm DNA: organization, protection and vulnerability: from basic science to clinical applications--a position report. Hum Reprod. 2010 Apr;25(4):824-38.
- Björndahl L. The usefulness and significance of assessing rapidly progressive spermatozoa. Asian J Androl. 2010 Jan;12(1):33-5.
- Björndahl L, Kvist U. Human sperm chromatin stabilization: a proposed model including zinc bridges. Mol Hum Reprod. 2010 Jan;16(1):23-9.
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