Associate Professor Bill Breed
 BSc (University of Aberdeen, UK)
DPhil (University of Oxford, UK)
Research Co-ordinator
e-mail: william.breed@adelaide.edu.au
Assoc. Prof. Bill Breed is a reproductive biologist whose main research focus is on the evolution of sperm, eggs, and egg coats of Australian rodents and marsupials. He has published around 150 papers (including 2 in Nature and one, last year, in PLOS-One), in morphological, zoological, and reproductive biological journals. Late last year he had a book, with Fred Ford, published by the CSIRO publishing company in their Australian Natural History Series entitled Native Mice and Rats. Over the last five years he, and his associates, have had over 30 papers published in the field of reproductive biology and comparative cell biology of sperm and eggs of mammals. He has also published around 20 review articles including one, with Prof. Brian Setchell, on mammalian male reproductive anatomy in the 3rd edition of "Knobil and Neill's Physiology of Reproduction".
Bill Breed is currently Deputy Head of the Discipline of Anatomical Sciences in the School of Medical Sciences at The University of Adelaide. He, together with his collaborators, have been largely responsible for the introduction of most of the modern microscopical techniques in use within that discipline, including fluorescence microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and immuno-gold labelling techniques. He was an Editorial Board Member of the journal Reproduction for 6 years and wrote, with Ken Aplin, the introduction sections on rodents in the recently published 3rd edition of Mammals of Australia edited by S Van Dyck and R Strahan. Bill is past president of the Australian Mammal Society and is currently a research associate of the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia.
Bill has been the major supervisor of 9 completed PhD, 1 MSc, and 45 honours student projects all the latter of whom have obtained either a first class or upper 2A degrees. At the present time he is currently co-supervisor of 5 students studying for their PhDs at The University of Adelaide and is the overseas co-supervisor of a student at Prince of Songkla University in southern Thailand. Bill's present research projects include studies on evolution of sperm and eggs of Australian mammals including investigations on sperm nuclear chromatin organisation, sperm head and tail cytoskeletal protein organisation, and the egg coat zona pellucida glycoproteins and their evolution.
Current Research Interests:
Evolution of sperm and egg form and function in Australian mammals including:
Sperm nuclear chromatin organisation.
Sperm head and tail cytoskeletal protein organisation.
Egg coat glycoproteins and their evolution.
Sperm-egg interactions and fertilisation.
Application of reproductive technology to conservation of Australian mammals
(including AI, IVF, Embryo Transfer, Sperm freezing and thawing, and Cross-fostering of Pouch Young)
Control of spawning in marine teleosts.
Recent Paper Publications
Book Publications
 (pdf 44kB) |
Native Mice and Rats
Australian Natural History Series
Bill Breed University of Adelaide
Fred Ford NSW Department of Environment and Conservation
Colour illustrations
200 pages
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Publication date: December 2007
click here for more information (pdf 44kB) |
Link to Reproductive Biology Group
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