Thesis defense of Matt Marcello

One of our own, Matt Marcello, will be presenting his thesis defense talk:

Insights into Mammalian Sperm-Egg Adhesion and Fusion from Studies of Knockout Mouse Models of Male Infertility

Friday, December 18, 2009, 2:30 P.M.
Sheldon Hall in the School of Public Health

I'll admit that is quite the shameless plug on my part, since Matt is in my lab -- but I'll be doing these announcement for all our RB trainees' defenses! (Matt is just the first since the blog started.)

December 15, 2009 meeting

Elizabeth Ables from the Drummond-Barbosa lab will be presenting. She has a picked a paper that hits on numerous hot issues in reproduction! (Heck, my fingers got tired typing the labels for this post!) This one should be interesting -- although maybe not the best one to have in advance of the holiday eating season ...

Main paper:
Starvation Protects Germline Stem Cells and Extends Reproductive Longevity in C. elegans
Angelo and Van Gilst
Science, 2009, 326:954-958

Complementary papers:
Perspective paper - "Strategies to get arrested," Science, 326:944-945
Another research paper - Two chemoreceptors mediate developmental effects of dauer pheromone in C. elegans, Kim et al., Science, 326:994-998

Elizabeth's commentary on why she picked this:
"In their publication, Angelo and Van Gilst demonstrate that C. elegans can undergo an adult reproductive diapause (ARD) in response to starvation that delays reproduction, extends lifespan, and protects germline stem cells despite overall germline atrophy. ARD thus gives starved C. elegans adults the ability to rapidly restore the number of germ cells upon reintroduction to a food source. The authors also demonstrate that a nuclear hormone receptor, nhr-49, is required for a proper ARD response. This article caught my eye because it highlights the role of endocrine signaling as an important link between diet and reproduction ... a main focus of our work in the Drummond-Barbosa Lab."