Fertility in suspended animation – the ovary in survival mode pre-freeze (Professor Suzannah Williams)

PROJECT TITLE

Fertility in suspended animation – the ovary in survival mode pre-freeze

Supervisors

• Prof Suzannah Williams 
• Dr Pete Kilbride

Description of project 

Cancer treatments, while increasingly effective, have varying degrees of gonadotoxicity often impairing fertility in women and girls. Potential loss of fertility is a key concern of cancer patients – establishing more rapid, effective, and robust fertility preservation methods will enhance cancer survivors quality of life.

The most promising recent breakthrough for fertility preservation is the cryopreservation (storage of viable tissue at ultra-low temperatures for many years) of ovarian tissue. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation has been pioneered over the past decade as an alternative to egg extraction and cryopreservation. Cryopreserving ovarian tissue allows not only for fertility restoration on re-transplantation, it has the potential to restore hormone balance in the cancer survivors – early menopause is common in cancer survivors. Ovarian extraction can also be caried out rapidly, unlike egg retrieval which can require several weeks of ovarian stimulation ahead of extraction. In the common scenario where cancer treatment must start immediately conventional egg freezing as limitations which can be overcome when freezing ovarian tissue.

We have recently discovered that “pre-conditioning” ovarian tissue – by chilling it over the course of up to 48h – results in improved cryopreservation outcome. This is likely due to the stress of the pre-freeze chill activating as yet unknown survival pathways in the ovaries, making them more resilient in the face of cryopreservation stresses. This project builds on this recent breakthrough (10.32371/jfp/246108), and the student will join an active research project with DPhil, technical, and post-doctorial researchers.

This project will work on optimizing time, temperature, and culture conditions to maximize ovarian recovery post-thaw. Additionally we are, for the first time, investigating the fundamental mechanisms behind this pre-conditioning-induced protection. Understanding the fundamental cause of these protections will not only allow great strides in ovarian tissue cryopreservation, but such mechanisms may be present in other tissues, allowing a step-change in biological preservation, from organ donation to t cell therapies.

TRAIniNG OPPORTUNITIES

Cryopreservation, by its very nature, is an interdisciplinary field which exposes its practitioners to many disciplines. To understanding low temperature biology - from the sub cellular level to the macroscopic tissue - interactions with ice, cryoprotectant chemicals, temperature and metabolism (etc.) must all be considered.  This by necessity draws on medicine, physics, molecular chemistry and biology, histology, metabolism, lab work, and the exploration of new methodologies. The student will be trained in lab work involving cell culture, tissue culture methods, as well as a range of gold-standard assessment techniques.

This project will take place within an established group at the university, which has a strong foundation of collaborations, both internal and external. The work will involve a mix of hands-on lab work, designing experiments, interpreting data, and solving complex problems.

Funding Information

The position is not currently funded and therefore the candidate will need to secure funding.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply for this research degree, please click here.