Our research
Our research focuses on the side effects of cancer treatment.
Chemotherapy treatment has led to high survival rates of childhood cancer.
However chemotherapy can have side effects such as hair loss, tiredness and changes in appetite.
Our research focuses on the side effects chemotherapy can have on fertility.
In adults we can preserve fertility by freezing a sperm sample or freezing eggs. In children it is more difficult to preserve fertility.
In girls, ovarian tissue can be frozen and transplanted back in adulthood.
Since prepubertal boys cannot produce sperm yet, fertility is a particular concern for male childhood cancer patients as currently, we cannot preserve their fertility in the clinic.
There are some key cells in the prepubertal testis that can be damaged by chemotherapy.
Germ cells are the cells that will become sperm in adulthood, but in children these cells are immature.
Sertoli cells support the growth and development of the testis in children.
In our research we investigating at whether sperm cells could be generated from frozen testicular tissue.
We are also investigating whether there are any existing medicines that could be given at the same time as chemotherapy to protect the germ cells.
