Katrien Smits is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Ghent (Belgium). Katrien graduated as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2006 and completed her Ph.D. in 2010 on equine in vitro embryo production with emphasis on intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) at Ghent University. The focus of Katrien's postdoc is on unraveling embryo-maternal interactions and optimizing assisted biotechnology techniques in the horse. Among the achievements of Katrien's research: SMICSI, the first ICSI-foal in Belgium, and VICSI, the first foal resulting from ICSI of a vitrified immature oocyte. Katrien is the author of 40 peer-reviewed A1 publications and is the mentor of several masters and Ph.D. students.