Contraception, Reproduction Assistance Technologies and Embryology (CReATE)

The overarching goal of BDRM is to understand, manipulate and design in vitro model systems at the cellular, molecular, and tissue levels for applications in disease and regenerative medicine.

Regarding contraception, despite the availability of a range of contraceptive methods, over 50% of pregnancies are unintended worldwide and in the United States. Thus, there is a critical need for contraception that better fits the diverse needs of women and men and takes into consideration different ethnic, cultural and religious values. Projects in our group are focused to find innovative methods for male and female contraception.

A growing body of data indicates that environmental exposures can be embodied within the developing male germ cell through epigenetic marks. In turn, these epigenetic marks may impart information at fertilization to affect the trajectory of development and offspring health. For example, nutritional manipulation in adult mice results in epigenetic dysregulation of sperm that affects offspring phenotype. These findings are significant because they provide evidence that environmental exposures encountered by adult males contribute to reproductive success via sperm epigenetics. 

During early development, cell interaction and movement are critical to produce the multiple tissues and organs that form the adult. Delays, abnormal cell interaction or abnormal cell position results in dramatic diseases that can affect one or multiple organs. Animal models of development allow us to investigate cell interactions and morphogenesis in the context of the whole animal. We can then test how alterations in key genes, cellular pathways or environmental agents affect normal development to understand the etiology of debilitating diseases including craniofacial deformities, diabetes, infertility, cancer, and multiple other disease and syndromes.

The Fertility, Reproduction, and Embryogenesis research theme spans a broad range of interests from gametogenesis and gamete function through embryonic development. Research approaches include the molecular genetic analyses of model systems, developmental psychobiology, and cognitive development in human infants. The reproduction and fertility group (Visconti, Fissore, Salicioni) focuses in the understanding of gamete physiology both from the female and the male sides.