Damien Boyd Bertrand Paul Paris

Associate Professor and Head of the Gamete and Embryology (GAME) Laboratory, James Cook University
Dr Damien Paris is head of the Gamete and Embryology (GAME) Laboratory at James Cook University. He is a cross-disciplinary reproductive/molecular biologist passionate about developing assisted reproductive technologies for animal breeding and conservation, as well as understanding the impact of adverse environmental conditions on fertility. He and his team produced the first macropods by artificial insemination, developed an antioxidant diet to protect pig sperm from heat-induced DNA damage, and developed a sperm freezing technique suitable for sperm banking and artificial insemination in the endangered African wild dog. Moreover, he has worked with a diversity of other domestic and wild species including primates, marsupials, horses, fish, frogs and crayfish. His group uses sperm cryopreservation, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, hormones and behaviour coupled with gamete & molecular analysis tools to investigate the underlying mechanisms that affect gamete (sperm & egg) quality & embryo survival in both aquatic & terrestrial animals. Moreover, his group actively develops mitigation strategies that will ultimately improve breeding and conservation management of these species.

Dr Paris has a BSc first-class honours degree in plant genetics/molecular biology (Monash University, Australia) and a PhD in mammalian reproduction (University of Melbourne, Australia), and was a Marie Curie Incoming International Fellow (University of Glasgow, UK) and postdoctoral research fellow (Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands) before joining JCU in 2011. He has worked at several other prominent Australian and international research institutions throughout his career including the Monash Institute for Medical Research, Monash University, Murdoch Royal Children's Institute, Baker Medical Research Institute and CSIRO (Australia); Wildlife Breeding Resource Centre (South Africa); and Max Planck Institute (based in Ivory Coast).