Kaptur: Two-Year $147,500 Federal Award for Infertility Research at UT
WASHINGTON, DC– Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) joined the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a research institute within the National Institutes of Health, to announce the two-year award of $147,500 in federal research funds to The University of Toledo’s Department of Biological Sciences research laboratoryfor the purpose of new fertility research entitled, “A Genome-wide Drosophila RNAi Screen for Regulators of Centrosome Reduction.”
The research project is managed by Tomer Avidor-Reiss, PhD, UT associate professor of biological sciences.
“Once again The University of Toledo is the recipient of research grants for breakthrough discoveries,” said Kaptur. “This time it’s for the challenge of identifying contributing factors for male infertility, early stage miscarriages and developmental diseases, and, hopefully, finding new treatments.”
In approximately 40 percent of infertile couples, the male partner is either the sole cause or a contributing cause of infertility.
“Infertility is a problem for one in eight couples. Often we see sperm cells that look normal, but when they fertilize the egg there are abnormalities in the embryo,” said Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss, associate professor of biological sciences. “This study has provided the first insight into a molecular mechanism that regulates centrosome reduction and the first direct evidence this process is essential for post-fertilization embryonic development.”
According to HHS, “This study is innovative because it is the first to use a genetic approach to study centrosome reduction. This study's outcomes are expected to vertically advance the understanding of how and why centrosomal proteins decrease during sperm formation. Ultimately, such knowledge has the potential to identify new causes of male infertility, early stage miscarriages, and developmental diseases, as well as provide new insight into treatment of these conditions. Public Health Relevance: In spite of tremendous efforts to characterize the genetic basis for male infertility, only about half of all male infertility cases are of a known cause. To identify new mechanisms that contribute to male infertility, the goal of this project is to study the molecular basis of centrosome change, which takes place during spermatogenesis, using Drosophila.”
Kaptur is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, which has funding responsibilities and oversight over the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Background:
For background on Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss: https://www.utoledo.edu/nsm/bio/research/AvidorReiss.html
For Dr. Avidor-Reiss’s lab website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tomer_Avidor-Reiss
For background on the NIAID grant announcement: https://hhsgrants.econsys.com/apex/f?p=103:210:0::NO:210:P210_GRANT_ID:164482
For background on University of Toledo: https://utoledo.edu
For background on infertility: https://www.asrm.org/detail.aspx?id=2322