Lectures

The “Center for Human Reproduction”: The essential roles of sperm centrosome during fertilization, infertility and ART

The “Center for Human Reproduction”: The essential roles of sperm centrosome during fertilization, infertility and ART

Gerald P Schatten, PhD

Director, Pittsburgh Development Center; Deputy Director, Magee-Women’s Research Institute; Professor & Vice Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, and Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Pittsburgh; Director of the Division of

Professor Schatten is Director of the Pittsburgh Development Center, Deputy Director of the Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI), serves as the Vice Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, and Director of the Division of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine, as well as Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania. Prior to founding the PDC at Magee-Womens and the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Schatten was Research Director of the Center for Women’s Health and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Cell and Developmental Biology at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. He was also a senior scientist and ART Director at the Oregon National Primate Research Center. He received his bachelor and doctoral degrees at the University of California, Berkeley, and conducted was a special Rockefeller Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in both the US and in Heidelberg at the German Cancer Research Center. Dr. Schatten has directly trained 18 Ph.D. students and 29 postdoctoral fellows, along with several MD, MD-PhD and DVM trainees. He is extremely active in advanced research training and was one of the three founding directors of the FRONTIERS IN REPRODUCTION, which is the premier reproduction training vehicle for MD and PhDs. Along with Dr. Roger Pedersen, Dr. Schatten is also a founding course director of Frontiers in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (FrHESC) – an intensive laboratory and lecture-based introduction to this emerging research field. He is co-director of FRONTIERS IN STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION taught annually at Woods Hole and director of FRONTIERS IN STEM CELLS IN CANCER at Howard University and Ponce School of Medicine, both which are supported by the NIH. He is currently President of UNESCO’s International Cell Research Organization. Along with extensive funding from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Schatten is the recipient of a MERIT award, was honored by the Czech Academy of Sciences with their Purkinje Medal of Science, elected as a Delegate of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, was awarded the Shield of Honor in Reproductive Medicine by Jordanian Society of Fertility and Genetics presented by H.R.H. Princess Basma, among other honors. His 300+ papers on stem cells, regeneration, fertilization, cell biology, development, infertility, and assisted reproductive technologies have appeared in premier journals including Nature and Science. Dr. Schatten is also an eloquent advocate for research in reproduction, development, regeneration and stem cells.

Invited Speakers

  • Gerald P Schatten, PhD

Context

Idiopathic infertility, both male and female, are likely the result of defects in the organelles and components which are essential for successful fertilization but are transmitted as extra-nuclear elements. Diagnosis of these types of cytoplasmic and epigenetic anomalies is predicted to help with improved ART success rates, since some patient couples may find that they are unlikely to enjoy benefits without donor gametes. Further, the missing components may be introduced and finally understanding of these critical elements vital for fertilization and the onset of development may lead to improved contraceptive strategies. Male factor infertility may result in the embryo failing to divide even after it is scored as a successful fertilization. Physicians and their laboratory colleagues will be encountered to expand their diagnostic horizons regarding the reasons why development arrests.

Objetives

  • Discuss factors within the oocyte which might cause fertilization to fail and development to arrest.
  • Articulate how sperm with normal motility may not fulfill its obligations during fertilization and how even ICSI may be ineffective in this form of male factor infertility.
  • Explain imprintopathies and centrosomopathies are novel causes of infertility that may bring relief to patient couples currently suffering from intractable infertility.

VIDEO: The “Center for Human Reproduction”: The essential roles of sperm centrosome during fertilization, infertility and ART


Recorded on: Tuesday, September 11, 2012

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