Session 166: Re-Pet

Session 166: Re-Pet

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Session 166: Re-Pet

Tuesday, 16th December, 3pm EST/8pm UK

Moderators:

Dr Pierre Comizzoli
Matt Pettit

Presenters:

Tullis Matson FRAgS, HonDTech, DL: Life after Life

Professor Andrew Pask: Restoring the past to protect our future

Dr Andres Gambini: All in the Family: In Vitro Embryo Production in Horses, Donkeys, Mules and Zebras

Q and A

Synopsis

TBA

Dr Pierre Comizzoli

Pierre Comizzoli started his career more than 25 years ago as a research veterinarian South America and Africa. He then completed a PhD in 2000 on in vitro fertilization in bovine and deer species. In 2002, he joined the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, DC to develop new cryo-banking projects on gametes and gonadal tissues from rare and endangered species. This also includes the coordination of reproductive monitoring and artificial inseminations in different species (including giant pandas, clouded leopards, or Eld’s deer). He is leading since 2007 a Smithsonian-wide initiative to improve the management and use of frozen biomaterial collections within the Institution.

Matt Pettit

Matt Pettit is Chief Scientific Officer at Matcher Technologies Ltd, leading the development of Matcher—a barcode-based system for electronic witnessing, labelling, scheduling, and traceability in Fertility Centres.
Matt has over three decades of experience in Assisted Reproductive Technology, including roles in lab management, R&D, and quality control in the world’s largest bovine and equine breeding facilities.

Matt serves as Trustee and scientific advisor to Nature’s Safe, a conservation initiative preserving live cells from endangered animal species in collaboration with global zoos

Tullis Matson FRAgS, HonDTech, DL

Tullis Matson FRAgS, HonDTech, has practiced Artificial Insemination (AI) in stallions and freezing semen for over 30 years. He formed Stallion AI Services in 2000, one of the most successful stallion collection centres in Europe, offering semen collection services, fertility assessment and worldwide semen export.

It was from Stallion AI Services that Tullis set up the charity, Nature’s SAFE, in 2020, with the simple but bold ambition to transfer biotechnology from this company to the challenge of halting and reversing the decline of biodiversity.

Nature’s SAFE is a living biobank dedicated to preventing animal extinction by indefinitely preserving live cells from endangered species. As one of the only living biobanks in Europe, it is the only facility in the UK and Europe capable of reawakening live cells.

Now in its fifth year, with cryopreserved tissue samples from over 300 species, Nature’s SAFE has been nominated for the Earthshot Prize 2025.

Prof Andrew Pask

Andrew Pask heads the Evo-Devo-Repro group at the University of Melbourne. His research uses comparative mammalian genetics to identify critical and conserved networks driving key processes in development. His comparative genetics work has led to the sequencing of several marsupial genomes, including that of the extinct Tasmanian Tiger. He uses genome wide, cross species comparisons to define regions of the genome targeted by evolution to drive diversity and adaptation. Andrew established the Thylacine integrated genetic restoration research lab (TIGRR lab) to examine the possibility of de-extinction for this species as well as develop next-generation tools to help preserve and conserve current threatened and endangered marsupial species. In addition, he recently established the first Australian living cell biobank at museums Victoria – to preserve current biodiversity. Together this work is focused on providing an integrated framework to preserve, conserve and even restore Australia’s unique biodiversity.

Dr Andres Gambini:

Dr. Andrés Gambini is a Senior Lecturer in Animal Science at the University of Queensland, internationally recognised for his pioneering work in reproductive biotechnology. He earned his veterinary degree with honours from the National University of Río Cuarto (Argentina) in 2008 and completed a Ph.D. in Animal Reproduction at the University of Buenos Aires, focusing on in vitro embryo production in horses. Dr. Gambini has led several landmark achievements, including the first cloned horses in South America (2010) and Australia (2018), the first in vitro–produced embryos of donkeys and mules (2022), and the first cloned zebra (2020) and IVF kangaroo (2025) embryos. His research spans animal cloning, IVF, ICSI, oocyte activation, and embryonic genome activation, with the goal of improving reproductive efficiency and advancing genetic conservation in equine and other animal species