Comizzoli P.

Dr. Pierre Comizzoli is a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. He develops new projects on gamete and gonadal tissue cryo-banking for rare and endangered species. His comparative research on fertility preservation in various wild and domestic animal species creates interesting bridges with human reproductive health and medicine.

Besides conducting research on cutting-edge approaches in fertility preservation and assisted reproduction, Comizzol is also in charge of conservation projects on wild carnivores and ungulates in Northern Africa and in Southeast Asia. Comizzoli also leads the Pan-Smithsonian Cryo-Initiative (PSCI) which aims to improve the management and use of biomaterial repositories within SCBI.

Comizzoli has worked as a veterinarian in French Guyana and in the African Sahelo-Saharan region. He also has a master’s degree from the University of Paris VI and a doctoral degree from the University of Tours on reproductive biotechnologies in bovine and deer species. During his doctoral studies, he described an original effect of the paternal component on early embryo development in both species, and produced in vitro the first transferable embryos in red deer and Japanese sika deer.