Andrology Consultancy
For anybody looking for consultancy for their andrology laboratory, Hawksley is working with and would highly recommend that you speak with Matt Tomlinson, who has over 30 years’ experience in the field within NHS Assisted Conception Services, is a lecturer and teacher for Masters-level courses and as a trainer for professional bodies.
His experience started with running laboratory courses for the British Andrology Society (BAS) and then the Association of Biomedical Andrologists, a group he was a co-founder of.
Matt has been a peer-assessor for accreditation, an expert witness for a number of high profile legal cases, has been a reviewer for a number of journals and grant awarding bodies and has over 50 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters.
His main areas are in: assessing/preparing validating/ verifying procedures with a view to accreditation; risk management of the diagnostic and therapeutic service; cryopreservation (sperm banking) services and developing automation in semen analysis. He is an advocate for evidence-based diagnostics and treatment for infertility. Although professional groups have attempted to standardise manual semen analysis, the evidence continues to demonstrate a lack of reproducibility and as a result has generally poor clinical value. This has in part provided the motivation to improve matters and one result is SAMi, a CASA (Computer Assisted Semen Analysis) system, which he co-invented. SAMi is very user-friendly and provides reliable and reproducible sperm count, motility and velocity and in a fraction of the time taken manually. If Matt can't help then he he will know someone who can.
Training
Matt can provide site visits for 1:1 tuition or group learning and are happy to map out a program to suit the service depth and breadth.
Areas covered include:
Pre-exam process
User information, Specimen collection/handling, Macroscopic measures
Exam process
Sperm motility (manual, CASA), Vitality (HOS, eosin/nigrosin),Sperm concentration (manual, CASA), Sperm morphology (WHO approaches, alternatives, evidence-base), Post-vasectomy testing
Post-Exam Process
Reporting, Clinical interpretation/follow-up, Risk, Limitations and uncertainty.
The limitations and risk associated with pre-exam, exam and post- procedures on outcome is discussed throughout to raise awareness of how ‘diagnostic uncertainty’ can be influenced by errors introduced at every step of the processes and how far mitigation of such risk can lead to a better end-product.
Therapeutic andrology
Sperm storage process (pre-storage, cryopreservation, follow-up, risk
Sperm donation process (cryopreservation, quarantine, release, follow-up)
Sperm preparation, Cryobank management/risk management
Additional laboratory functions
- Risk management (risk identification/assessment, prioritisation, mitigation)
- Management function (process mapping, laboratory design, resourcing, training)
- Toxicity testing (scope, methodology, identification of standards)
- Assessment of validation, uncertainty
You can get in touch with him directly, by visiting his website: