Alexander O'Donnell Email & Phone Number

Birmingham, Gb

West Midlands, England, United Kingdom

University Of Leeds

I used my academic knowledge, became confident in a research environment and acquired a number of transferable and specialized techniques during my time at LICAMM. Within the Reproduction and Early Development group, I began with a focus on the mammalian oocyte. From the initial fresh tissue processing of ovine uterine tracts to the eventual culture of pre-antral follicles, I showed capacity for highly-skilled technical work. This was accompanied by an introduction to HPLC, in which changes to the amino acid composition of a culture media were monitored over time in order to determine the duration of its viability in cold storage. My focus later shifted to spermatozoa, whereby I explored the correlation between two stains (aniline blue and acridine orange) across three distinct subpopulations of sperm characterized by 'quality'. Microscopy and florescence microscopy were used in image capture, and statistical analysis was performed using Prism and IBM SPSS. The culmination of the data and experience I gained during at my time at the institute were delivered in the form of group presentations, both to my supervisors and students in separate talks .