About the seminar

For the past three years, the Covid-19 pandemic has dominated the media. Far less talked about however, is another pandemic spanning decades – an insidious global increase in mammalian infertility. Endocrine disrupting chemicals, climate change, in-utero stressors – our modern environment challenges our reproductive potential before we are even born.

Curiously, these manifestations of infertility are paralleled in livestock systems, providing an opportunity to both improve livestock production and model reproduction at a population level.

Through the E.H.B Lefroy Research Fellowship at The University of Western Australia, Dr Kelsey Pool has established a core research program devoted to improving sheep production that expanded to a livestock reproduction business and large-scale model for human infertility. Hear about how diet can change the way sperm function, how in-utero events can alter the physiology – and even behaviour – of future generations, and how we can use markers of fertility as a bioassay for biological de-fleecing.

This one-hour seminar is free and open to all members of the public.

Can’t attend in person? No problems! The UWA Institute of Agriculture shares recordings of its lectures and events on YouTube. Check out our channel here.

About the lecturer

Reproductive biologist and current E.H.B Lefroy Research Fellow Dr Kelsey Pool aims to both contribute to a better mechanistic understanding of reproductive biology whilst providing tangible outcomes to the Australian livestock industries. Her research focuses primarily on understanding how endocrine disruptors and environmental factors impact fertility, through both multigenerational drosophila melanogaster models and sheep production systems.

Prior to moving to UWA to undertake the role of E.H.B Lefroy Research Fellow, Dr Pool completed her PhD at the University of Sydney and INRA, Nouzilly, France. Her PhD research into how the neurohormone melatonin regulates reproductive seasonality resulted in the registration of a commercial Australian product to improve ovine reproductive efficiency.

Dr Pool strongly advocates for better integration of applied and fundamental research in the field of agricultural science, with particular emphasis on involving producers in research and the benefits of livestock as models for mammalian fertility.

The E.H.B Lefroy Research Fellowship was established through a bequest by Sir Edward H.B. Lefroy and his family for post-doctoral candidates to undertake agricultural research at UWA.