Researcher

Ruth Appeltant

Research Expertise:Within the Fertility Preservation line of research at the Gamete Research Centre, my group focuses on the use of stem cells to preserve or restore fertility in humans and endangered species. This is done using the pig as an animal model. My training as a veterinarian and the research areas in which I was active (embryology, cryopreservation, genomics and conservation of endangered species) were preparations for my goal, the care of reproduction and biodiversity. The intersection of those four research areas is fertility. My experience with reproduction taught me that patients with extremely severe forms of infertility and many endangered species have run out of eggs. This bottleneck prevents progress through assisted reproductive technologies, which are often based on a naturally occurring supply of eggs. In those cases, the only solution is to generate eggs from stem cells. These stem cells may be naturally dormant in the organism or must be induced from already differentiated cells. This approach provides the solution for infertility in humans and animals.

Disciplines:Reproductive medicine, Stem cell biology, Veterinary reproduction and obstetrics, Zoological medicine

Research techniques:Post-mortem investigation, Assisted reproductive techniques, Histology, Cryobiology, Surgical techniques, Data analysis, Molecular reproductive techniques, Bioinformatics, Laboratory animal colony management Experience with these techniques in research on mice, pigs, sheep, cattle, rhinoceroses and humans.

Users of research expertise:researchers involved in fundamental and strategic basic research, private partners (commercial companies, charities, hospitals and fertility clinics), government agencies, non-governmental organizations, animal parks and zoos