Developmental and Fetal Origins of Differences in Monozygotic Twins

Dr. Alexandra Matias is Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Porto Medical School, and Senior Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Specialist in Fetal Medicine at University Hospital of S. João Porto, Portugal. Dr. Matias completed her PhD in Medicine at the University of Porto with the thesis "Venous return in the evaluation of fetal heart function,” and also completed a Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Fellowship at the Pharmakologisches Institute in Heidelberg, Germany. She currently advises 6 doctorate and 12 master's degrees in Medicine, and served as the PhD jury president at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona. Dr. Matias has published widely in such peer reviewed journals as Twin Research and Human Genetics, Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Journal of Perinatal Medicine, the Journal of Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy, and the European Journal of Pharmacology. Isaac Blickstein is Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Affiliated with the Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel

• 1. Introduction2. Biology of monozygotic twinning3. Mechanisms of discordance inmonozygotic twins: why and when?4. Monozygotic twins in history:enlightenment by mythology andethnography5. Genetics and epigenetics differences inmonozygotic twins: the vision of thegeneticist6. Heterokaryotypic monozygotic twins7. Differences in placentation inmonochorionic twin pregnancies8. Differences in growth: selectiveintrauterine growth restriction inmonochorionic twins9. Hemoglobin differences at birth inmonochorionic twins10. Differences in amniotic fluid in MZtwins11. Twin-reversed arterial perfusionsequence: different identical twins12. Major discordant anomalies inmonozygotic twins: management andoutcome13. Congenital heart disease inmonozygotic twins14. Spotting the differences in thefirst trimester of pregnancy in MZ twins:the issue of aneuploidies and TTTSscreening15. Noninvasive prenatal screening intwin pregnancies16. A new way to look at multiples: thepower of image17. Differences in monozygotic twins: theimplications of diet and intestinalmicrobioma18. Differences in development inmonozygotic twins19. Monozygotic twins: a personal aswell as a criminal and jurisdictionalapproach20. Monozygotic twin differences inperceived age21. The environmental differencesbetween twins in utero and theirimportance for downstream development: aneed for standardized monitoring inobstetric research22. Future perspectives