Dr. Luisa Ramírez-Agámez is a graduate student in the Section of Theriogenology and the Molecular Cytogenetics Laboratory in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences (VLCS) and the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS) at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS) in spring 2021. She received her DVM at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (National University of Colombia) in 2017. In August 2018, she and her husband opened a private practice in their native Colombia, offering reproductive consultation for several Paso Fino Horse breeding operations.

From February 2019 – February 2020, Dr. Ramírez-Agámez was a member of the Equine Embryo Laboratory as a visiting intern, where she was trained in transvaginal oocyte aspiration, oocyte and embryo manipulation, and cryopreservation. At the same time, she conducted a research project focused on determining how the presence of different energy substrates might affect the capacity of stallion sperm to undergo the acrosome reaction process under in vitro conditions. This research project was done under Dr. Katrin Hinrichs’ supervision and resulted in an effective method to induce the acrosome reaction in stallion sperm without affecting sperm viability. Her findings were recently presented at the International Embryo Technologies Society Annual Meeting in New York City (2020) and at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Theriogenology (2020).

She also is a co-author of two book chapters about endometrial cytology in the mare and stallion semen evaluation, which will be published in the new edition of the book Diagnostic Cytology and Hematology of the Horse (2020, Wiley), as well as co-author in various scientific publications related to stallion sperm physiology and preservation.

Dr. Ramírez-Agámez will be working under Dr. Terje Raudsepp and Dr. Charles Love on projects related to equine cytogenetics and genomics and their relationship to reproduction, as well as projects focused on assisted reproductive techniques in mares.

Her research interests are related to assisted reproductive technologies in horses, with emphasis on transvaginal oocyte aspiration, oocyte maturation and fertilization, and embryo transfer. She also has interests in stallion sperm physiology under in vitro conditions, and equine cytogenetics and genomics.