Biography and abstract:

Rod is Professor of Developmental Endocrinology at the Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh. He is also a Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist at The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

Rod is clinical and research lead for fertility preservation in prepubertal boys with cancer. His work combines the clinical service for gonadal tissue cryopreservation with research aimed at developing clinical strategies to protect or restore fertility in patients receiving sterilising therapies. He is currently leading a UK clinical trial (Edinburgh, Oxford and UCL) to re-transplant testicular tissue into patients after chemotherapy treatment in order to restore fertility.

His laboratory research activities are focused on the role of the germ-stem cell niche in prepubertal testis development and function. His research group use in-vitro and transplantation approaches to model prepubertal testicular development in order to determine effects of exposure to chemotherapy on germ cells and to develop strategies to protect the testis from cancer treatments. These models are also being applied to promoting germ cell differentiation in prepubertal testicular tissues or protecting the childhood testis from chemotherapy-induced damage. Rod is also a Senior Deputy for the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) SIG and is on the board of the International Society for Fertility Preservation (ISFP). He recently founded and co-ordinates the ORCHID-NET consortium, an international network for fertility preservation in prepubertal boys.

Rods presentation will discuss clinical and research progress in fertility preservation in children and adolescents facing gonadotoxic treatment, highlighting the importance of collaboration in conducting research and developing novel therapies in this field.

Website: reproductive-health.ed.ac.uk/research/research-groups/mitchell-group

E-mail: rod.mitchell@ed.ac.uk

X/Bluesky: @RodTMitchell