Professor Norah Spears, Reproduction and Fertility, UK

Professor Norah Spears is co-Editor-in-Chief of Reproduction & Fertility, a new open-access journal recently established by SRF and Bioscientifica, a sister journal of Reproduction.

Norah is Professor of Reproductive Physiology in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. The primary focus of her research examines how chemotherapy treatment can have off target effects on the gonads that impact on subsequent fertility, with a long-term aim of investigating whether the damaging effects can be alleviated. Her work examines effects on both female and male fertility, and on the reproductive system of individuals who were exposed to chemotherapy during fetal development, which is a potential consequence of cancer treatment of pregnant women. Much of her research uses tissue culture systems to investigate reproductive toxicology, with her laboratory involved in developing new techniques for this work. She is a founding member of Edinburgh Fertility Preservation, a group of clinicians and scientists in Edinburgh whose work aims to improve the outcome for patients whose treatment may compromise their long-term fertility.