Professor Tony Perry from the Department of Life Sciences has been reappointed as an External Advisor to the Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee (SCAAC), a subcommittee of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

In this position, Prof. Perry will continue to contribute to informing the HFEA of advances in reproductive science, thereby helping to shape government policy in this rapidly advancing field. The role will last for three years, until May 2028 and is his second term in position after joining the committee in 2022.

As the head of Bath’s Laboratory of Mammalian Molecular Embryology, Prof. Perry’s research focuses on the extraordinary changes that mark the beginning of embryo development after fertilisation. Central to their approach, Prof. Perry's team uses mouse embryos to learn how a single embryo cell can develop into a complete and functioning organism and identify parallel processes that give rise to human babies. Parallels include a shared switch that activates genes in the newly formed embryo, a switch that involves genes associated with cancer.

Work in the Perry lab has biomedical applications, many of which are relevant to the HFEA, including genome editing, advancing stem cell research and developing tools for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Speaking of his reappointment to the SCAAC, Prof. Perry said: "It's an honour to continue this opportunity to bring insights from animal work to the clinical purview of the HFEA through the work of SCAAC."