Tayler Catherine Kent

My PhD research has focused on the pharmacology and toxicology of popular herbal 'fertility' supplements and the metabolic and functional changes they induce in sperm, using a ram model. This has obvious translational relevance to human health, to whom these supplements are heavily marketed (despite limited safety data and a hands-off regulatory system), but also to livestock fertility, as the addition of antioxidant-rich compounds to stored sperm is becoming popular practice in assisted reproduction. I have also set up a mouse cell model to explore these effects in testicular cells and sperm production. I use a combination of flow cytometry, metabolomics (using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, GCMS), ELISA and computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) to determine biochemical changes after supplement exposure.

I have co-supervised 6 DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine research) students; one completed 2020, investigating the antioxidant role of paraoxonase 1 in stallion semen, 5 current looking at changes to motility, morphology and the metabolome of sperm exposed to curcumin or rosiglitazone pre-and-post-thaw).

I am currently co-supervising one Research Masters and one Honours student, investigating the hepatotoxic effects of herbal medicine and alcohol polypharmacy (collaboration with The University of Adelaide School of Medicine) and investigating the composition of Garcinia gummi-gata supplements (Australian National Phenome Centre) respectively.

Other research I am currently involved in includes:

Endocrine disruption in sperm by phytoestrogens

Determining the sex ratio of male-female sperm in rams

Investigating antibacterial resistance in dairy cows in Western Australia