Dr. Helen C. O’Neill
Teaching and Research Fellow
Embryology, IVF and Reproductive Genetics Group
Background:
Helen did her BSc in Molecular Genetics at University
College Cork in Ireland. She went on to do her MSc in
Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine at University
College London. She did her PhD and postdoctoral
research in stem cell biology and developmental genetics in the laboratory of
Professor Robin Lovell-Badge at the National Institute for Medical Research (now
the Francis Crick Laboratories, Mill Hill). There she researched the genes involved
in sex determination, including genes crucial for the formation of ovaries. She
discovered a key area of a female-specific gene, which, when mutated, causes
premature ovarian failure and can cause ovarian cancer. To do this she generated
transgenic mice lines and used them to model disease phenotypes and assess the
regulatory transcriptional activity of both long-range and conserved promoters
involved in female sex determination.
Current role:
Helen lectures and supervises research projects for the Prenatal Genetics and
Fetal Medicine, and Reproductive Science and Women’s Health MSc courses. She
is also developing two online continued professional development (CPD) lifelearning courses for healthcare professionals, which can be found here:
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Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lifelearning/courses/preimplantation-geneticdiagnosis/
The Clinical IVF Laboratory:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lifelearning/courses/clinical-ivf-laboratory
Helen is also the module lead for Reproductive Health for the new Women’s
Health intercalated BSc (iBSc) and aims to implement blended learning as she did
in the MSc courses.
Together with Professor Harper, Helen is part of the research team for “Global
Women Connected”, an interactive website that aims to educate and share
women’s health issues around the world and has over 2000 followers.
Research questions:
Helen is currently working on the effects of different freezing parameters on
sperm survival and DNA fragmentation. She is also researching the effects of ecigarettes on sperm and gonadal function.
Building on her strong background in molecular biology, she is currently using
CRISPR to study the occurrence of mosaicism in embryos using various modes of
Cas9 delivery.