91短视频

In 2022-2023, Randolph-Macon Paul H. Wornom M.D. Professor of Biology Jim Foster spent much of the year in the Netherlands and Argentina, where he worked with collaborators and cutting-edge instruments to advance a lifelong study of reproductive biology. The subject of his intensive sabbatical work was the acrosome, a small vesicle at the tip of the sperm head that is crucial to the process of fertilization in mammals. Despite the importance of the acrosome, we know little about the mechanics of how it functions. 

This summer, AC Tetterton 鈥�26 and Allison Carey 鈥�25 stepped in here in Ashland to advance this line of research, completing Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) projects in Foster鈥檚 lab that sought to explore this microscopic structure and the membranes, proteins, and matrices that make it work.

During the sperm-egg interaction, the acrosome goes through changes鈥攃alled an acrosomal reaction鈥攚hich allows the sperm to get through the egg鈥檚 outer layer of cells and thick sugar/protein coat. 鈥淲ithout a functional acrosome, there鈥檚 no fertilization,鈥� Foster explained.

Both Tetterton and Carey spent the summer immersed in the lab, preparing samples, managing the mouse colony used for the research, and working with light, fluorescence confocal, and electron microscopes鈥攁dvanced instruments funded by National Science Foundation grants. Their work yielded interesting results.

Tetterton, a biology and chemistry double-major, focused on the membrane proteins that trigger the acrosomal reaction and homed in on GPR56. She describes the receptor as 鈥渁 lot more dynamic,鈥� as it moves from within the acrosome to the surface.

鈥淲hen and where it gets put on the surface will help indicate what it鈥檚 doing because it鈥檚 a signaling molecule,鈥� Foster said.

Tetterton first connected with Foster when she toured 91短视频 as a high school senior; Foster was displaying a poster with a G protein-coupled receptor on it, which Tetterton had studied in high school. She worked in Foster鈥檚 lab as a first-year student, now combined with a summer of SURF, helping her boost her research credentials on a path to an MD-PhD program.

Carey, a biology major on a pre-med track, worked this summer to learn more about the protein make-up of the acrosomal matrix, a structure that helps bind the sperm to an egg.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to understand how those proteins are arranged, and what that arrangement might tell us about how the sperm-egg interactions work,鈥� Foster said.

Carey specifically studied the protein ACRV1, and her work confirmed that it is an acrosomal matrix protein. While it鈥檚 a narrow focus, that conclusion serves as a building block for the bigger picture.

鈥淔ertilization is such an essential process for any species to continue to exist,鈥� Carey said. 鈥淚 find it really interesting that no one has explored this kind of stuff. We know that it happens, but we don’t know how.鈥�

Carey just got her EMT certification and plans to take a few years working before eventually applying for medical school. In the meantime, she鈥檒l continue the work in Foster鈥檚 lab on ACRV1 with the goal of publishing the research.

The research is still preliminary but has the potential to be the foundation for breakthroughs in male contraception and fertility treatments. And for the students in the lab, the hands-on experience is providing a valuable connection from the classroom to real life.