Fertility Preservation and Child Cancer Survivors – Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation (Professor Suzannah Williams)
PROJECT TITLE
Fertility Preservation and Child Cancer Survivors – Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
Cancer treatments, while increasingly effective, have varying degrees of gonadotoxicity often impairing fertility in women and girls. This is particularly pronounced in young girls as their fertility cannot be preserved using conventional egg freezing as is routine for adults.
A potential solution is the cryopreservation (storage at ultra-low temperatures for many years) of ovarian tissue. Ovarian tissue can be re-transplanted after successful cancer treatment. This restores not only natural fertility, but also the key hormonal functions of the ovary – something lacking in egg freezing.
While strategies for adult ovarian tissue cryopreservation are well established these strategies have a poor outcome when applied to pre-pubertal ovaries. Pre-puberty, ovaries have substantially different functions and metabolism - we have little understanding of how these young ovaries respond to the stresses of cryopreservation and so effective strategies for their cryopreservation remain elusive.
This project will be integrated into an ongoing project within Suzannah Williams' group, focusing specifically on pre-pubertal ovaries cryopreservation. For the first time, we are examining the metabolism and individual cells both before freezing, after freezing, and during cell culture. We will use this new data to develop more effective strategies for cryopreserving ovaries in young girls, ultimately improving fertility preservation and hormone restoration treatments for young cancer survivors.
The project uses sheep ovaries, given the high value and scarcity of human ovaries. Sheep ovaries are an excellent model due to their similarity to human ovaries and are well characterized. Specifically, we will explore various cryopreservation strategies, including cooling rates, cryoprotectants, ice structures, pre-conditioning, and post-thaw culture strategies and reagents.
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.