Professor Trudee Fair grew up in Westport, Co Mayo. She studied Agricultural Science at the University College Galway and then transferred to University College Dublin (UCD), specialising in animal husbandry and animal production, graduating in 1991. Inspired by the work of Professor Ian Gordon, who had established an in vitro embryo production laboratory at the UCD Lyons Farm, Trudee began her Master’s programme in UCD in reproductive physiology, graduating in 1992.
While attending a conference in The Hague, Trudee was introduced to the work of Professor Poul Hyttel on oocyte and embryo morphology and decided to pursue a PhD in his group. Expertly supported by Mrs Susan Hedigan, she applied for an EU Marie Curie International Fellowship, to study at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, where she focused on the ultrastructure of bovine oocyte growth. She spent time conducting research in Denmark and France before returning to Ireland in 1998 to further her career at UCD Lyons Farm as a postdoctoral researcher.
Her research work has always been driven by a deep curiosity to further understand the egg as the foundation of life: What are the factors, the genes, the proteins, and the molecular structure of the egg that make it ready to sustain fertilisation, develop into an embryo, and form a viable pregnancy?
Currently Professor Fair is lecturing in animal physiology and animal health, behaviour and welfare in UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science.
See below for an outline of her current Research work and future research aspirations.
Current Research Challenges
Professor Trudee Fair’s research focuses on understanding the morphological and molecular changes that occur within the bovine oocyte as it grows. Advances in molecular biotechnologies have allowed her group to profile gene expression in single oocytes; exploring when gene transcription starts, how it is modified and how oocytes accumulate the information necessary to sustain maturation,fertilisation and early embryonic development. In cattle, it can take an oocyte up to a year to grow from the smallest stage to the fully-grown size at ovulation. Such a protracted period of growth exposes the oocyte to environmental insults.
The long standing goal of Professor Fair’s work is to identify the structural, molecular, and epigenetic changes required for the oocyte to achieve full developmental competence. From a livestock production perspective, the findings provide a blueprint to identify the oocyte’s susceptibility to environmental insults, such as heat stress, pathogens or toxicants and could inform strategies to manage animals more effectively. Efficient animal production is vital for farming economics, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare.
Much of what is known today about oocyte biology comes from mouse models, but the timing of oocyte growth, embryo development and pregnancy is much shorter in mice compared to livestock or humans. Therefore, cattle offer a more comparable model for human fertility research. Professor Fair is working to develop in vitro models in the laboratory, avoiding the need to work with live animals. By growing eggs in the lab, she can investigate factors critical to livestock and human fertility.
The Researcher
Professor Fair coordinated a European consortium of oocyte biologists (EUROVA) for EU Doctoral Network funding in 2019. The goals of EUROVA were to build critical mass in oocyte biologists across Europe by consolidating oocyte biology expertise and technologies to train 15 PhD students. EUROVA, brought together oocyte biologists working with human, livestock, endangered species and laboratory mouse models. The PhD research projects ranged from the use of AI assisted technology to create predictive models for patient tailored interventions for human fertility treatments, to conservation of endangered species and fertility preservation in young women undergoing chemotherapy that may be toxic to their oocytes.
Professor Fair was elected to the Board of Governors of the International Embryo Technology Society (IETS) and delivered their keynote lecture at their annual conference in 2024. Trudee holds the position of Associate Dean for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the School of Agricultural and Food Sciences (SAFS), and chaired UCD’s 1st successful School’s application for the Athena Swan Silver Award. Gender equality is very important to Trudee, she was one of very few female academics when she initially started in UCD SAFS. She acknowledges the support of colleagues during her career and is now involved in the mentoring program within the school. She was Chair of the Lyons Farm Animal Welfare Subcommittee for several years and secured funding for the digitisation of animal welfare records within UCD. Outside of her academic career Trudee especially enjoys spending time with her family on the beaches of the West of Ireland.
Future Research Aspirations
Professor Fair has a strong interest in the intersection between the immune system and the reproductive system, particularly as it relates to oocyte development and the implantation of the embryo in the uterus. She is keen to build on her recent work which investigated the contribution of immune cells to the ovulation process.
She highlights that ‘’dairy cattle, in particular, are susceptible to a number of diseases post-calving, such as endometritis and mastitis. When their immune systems are occupied with combating these diseases, their fertility is adversely affected’’. Professor Fair seeks to unravel the potential impact of high levels of inflammation in animals on the quality of their oocytes. Understanding this relationship could pave the way for better treatments and improved fertility outcomes. Optimum health leads to optimum fertility, with both being heavily dependent on the immune system and nutrition—a One Health approach.
As the EUROVA project concludes, Professor Fair and the consortium members are actively working on new applications to extend this research. Their goal is to deepen the understanding of the environmental impact on basic oocyte biology and to develop strategies to protect both animal and human oocyte development. This includes addressing the effects of toxic chemicals, environmental pollutants such as plastics, and climate change. A recent award under the Zoetis funded UCD Squared One Health initiative to Trudee and her colleague at UC Davis will certainly kickstart their efforts.
Related Links
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List associated links to their key work.
Latorraca LB, Galvão A, Rabaglino MB, D'Augero JM, Kelsey G, Fair T. (opens in a new window) Single-cell profiling reveals transcriptome dynamics during bovine oocyte growth. BMC Genomics. 2024 Apr 6;25(1):335. doi: 10.1186/s12864-024-10234-0. PMID: 38580918; PMCID: PMC10998374.
Galatidou S, Petelski AA, Pujol A, Lattes K, Latorraca LB, Fair T, Popovic M, Vassena R, Slavov N, Barragán M. (opens in a new window) Single-cell proteomics reveals decreased abundance of proteostasis and meiosis proteins in advanced maternal age oocytes. Mol Hum Reprod. 2024 Jun 26;30(7):gaae023. doi: 10.1093/molehr/gaae023. PMID: 38870523.
Fair T, Lonergan P. (opens in a new window)The oocyte: the key player in the success of assisted reproduction technologies. Reprod Fertil Dev. 2023 Dec;36(2):133-148. doi: 10.1071/RD23164. PMID: 38064189.
Abdulrahman Alrabiah N, Simintiras CA, Evans ACO, Lonergan P, Fair T. (opens in a new window) Biochemical alterations in the follicular fluid of bovine peri-ovulatory follicles and association with final oocyte maturation. Reprod Fertil. 2022 Dec 1;4(1):e220090. doi: 10.1530/RAF-22-0090. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36547396; PMCID: PMC9874974.
Abdulrahman Alrabiah N, Evans ACO, Fahey AG, Cantwell N, Lonergan P, McCormack J, Browne JA, Fair T. (opens in a new window)Immunological aspects of ovarian follicle ovulation and corpus luteum formation in cattle. Reproduction. 2021 Aug 4;162(3):209-225. doi: 10.1530/REP-21-0165. PMID: 34255737.