Phil Purdy

Phillip Purdy, PhD, is an Animal Physiologist with the National Animal Germplasm Program (NAGP).  He has expertise in all areas of assisted reproduction (semen, egg, and embryo collection; germplasm cryopreservation or vitrification; artificial insemination; in vitro fertilization; embryo transfer; gonad, organ, and tissue collection, vitrification, utilization, or transplantation; DNA collection and purification), as well as expertise in repository development, operation, and utilization.  In addition, these expertise apply to all of the agricultural species relevant to the NAGP collection; e.g. aquaculture, beef and dairy cattle, goats, insects, pigs, poultry, sheep, etc.  His responsibilities with the NAGP include identifying, optimizing, or creating methods and protocols for collection, cryopreservation, and utilization of animal germplasm, acquisition of samples for inclusion in the repository, and research that improves any facet of these activities.  Consequently, targeted endpoints for his research include: development of new methods that improve the germplasm collection and cryopreservation processes and which result in greater post-thaw quality; creation of techniques that can be utilized to evaluate and predict post-thaw germplasm quality via exploration of the germplasm membrane structure and function; and creation or modification of techniques which enable a more efficient and effective use of frozen-thawed germplasm.