The PhD course aims at providing specific training to graduates in Medicine and Surgery, Biological Sciences and Biotechnology to acquire scientific skills in the endocrinological, metabolic, andrological fields and to define a new figure of researcher, the biotechnologist of reproduction, highly specialized in the study of gametes and fertility. The training course of the PhD students includes the acquisition of basic knowledge relating to endocrine-metabolic and andrological diseases with particular reference to the diseases involved in male infertility and the learning of crybiology, molecular biology, molecular genetics, with particular regard to genetic and molecular mechanisms involved in the fertilization process and in the pathophysiology of reproduction. To achieve these objectives, doctoral students will be trained both in basic research and in research applied to the diagnosis and therapy of diseases involved in fertility through theoretical seminars on specific topics and attendance in specialized laboratories. In particular, the training course will be structured as follows: 1- Presentation, at the beginning of the course, of a personal research project. 2- Participation to periodic seminars on basic topics within the areas of interest of the course. 3- Participation of the PhD students in national and international meetings (Congresses and workshops) where topics related to their research project are discussed with presentation, where possible, of the data obtained from their research. 4- Optional period of attendance at foreign institutions to broaden the knowledge on the study methods inherent to the pursued research. 5- Periodic rotation of PhD students in accredited research laboratories. 6- Discussion of the PhD thesis with external members.