Kellee Siegfried
University of Massachusetts-Boston, MA·Biology
Infertility affects more than 17% of couples, and in about half of these cases the male partner contributes. Men make sperm continuously throughout adult life.
- Fields
Biology
Genetics
- Topics
male infertility
spermatogenesis
spermatogonial stem cells
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2029
What they work on
- Identify the testis RNAs bound directly by Adad1, an RNA binding protein needed to maintain zebrafish sperm stem cells. Compare these RNAs in adad1 mutant and normal testes to see whether Adad1 stabilizes or destabilizes them.
- Use cell-based assays to determine how Adad1 binding changes its target RNAs and which domains, or functional regions, of the Adad1 protein are required.
- Test whether human and mouse Adad1 proteins act on RNA transcripts in the same ways as zebrafish Adad1, to see whether its function is shared across species.
- Characterize zebrafish adad2 mutants to learn how the related Adad2 RNA binding protein supports germ cell development and maintenance.
- Compare adad1;adad2 double mutants with each single mutant to test whether the two genes have overlapping, backup roles in germ cells.
More about the research
This depends on spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), stem cells in the testis that must balance two jobs: copying themselves and maturing into sperm. SSCs receive signals from neighboring testis cells and from hormones. How they combine these signals to strike the right balance is poorly understood. One layer of control acts after genes are copied into RNA. RNA binding proteins, which attach to RNA molecules and affect their stability or use, are essential throughout sperm development. Even so, little is known about what they do in SSCs.
Why it matters
Many couples face infertility, and male factors contribute in about half of these cases. Knowing how sperm-making stem cells are maintained could help improve germ cell culture methods and treatments that restore testis function after damage. It could also inform assisted reproductive technologies, diagnosis of infertility and the development of male-targeted contraception.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Haiqi Chen
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, TX·Genetics
Map ligand–receptor interactions, where signaling molecules bind receptors on neighboring cells, between human spermatogonial stem cells and their niche using spatial transcriptomics on intact testis tissue sections.
Brian Hermann
University of Texas at San Antonio, TX·Biology
Identify small molecules that bind RBM46, the germ-cell-specific RNA-binding protein required for sperm production, through drug screening, and advance the best binders as starting points for targeted degraders.
Carolina Jorgez
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Genetics
Define why male mice lacking Wnt4 in the gubernaculum, the tissue that guides testis descent, are infertile, separating the effects of testis position, the genetic defect and hormone imbalance in both testes.
The school
University of Massachusetts-Boston: 3 labs on PI Pages, $75M a year on research, 108 research doctorates a year.
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