The Williams Lab works on fertility preservation for various species including rhinoceros by developing techniques to generate eggs in the lab from ovarian tissues. This encompasses improving culture, cryopreservation and analysis techniques – all of which are ongoing. DPhil projects could investigate any one of these areas as there is much to be done to optimise ovarian culture for different species, investigation of how different species and their tissues respond to cryopreservation and what we can do to improve this, and also developing novel ways of tracking ovarian follicle development in real time in the lab. There are many research methodologies we use to address these challenges which include but are not limited to tissue culture, cell culture, organoid development, histology, molecular analysis using immunohistochemistry, apoptosis analysis, protein analysis, as well as genetic modification.
Qualifications and Experience
BSc Hons Zoology 1995; PhD in Ovarian Physiology 2000. Supervised 10 DPhil students to completion at Oxford as primary supervisor since 2011, supervised over 50 student projects for various degrees including MSc's and FHS, taught at Oxford for multiple years, examiner for 3 different MSc courses in UK (Oxford, Imperial, Sheffield), examiner for 9 DPhil/PhD candidates.
