Application of Novel Models of Male Reproductive Function for Contraceptive Discovery
4:00 Welcome and Opening Comments
4:05 - Paula Cohen, Cornell University, USA The Boys Are Back In Town: (Re-)Visiting Strategies For Male Contraception
4:50 - Maxwell Edmonds, Northwestern University, USA Engineering the Testis: Current State and Future Perspectives
5:05 - Margarida Fardilha, University of University of Aveiro, Portugal Modulation of sperm Motility with Bioportide that Target Protein Phosphatase 1 Complexes
5:20 - Jeffrey Lee, University of Toronto, Canada Nanobodies to Block Sperm-Egg Fusion
5:35- Jiyang Zhang, Northwestern University, USA
Mouse Ovarian Follicles from Encapsulated in Vitro Follicle Growth (eIVFG) Preserve Molecular Signatures of Mammalian Ovulation
Paula Cohen
Since starting her own lab, she has received continuous funding from NIH, the March of Dimes, the National Down Syndrome Society, and the Hereditary Diseases Foundation. More recently, she received a Grand Challenge Explorations grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to investigate new strategies for contraceptive development in men. In 2006, Dr. Cohen established the Center for Reproductive Genomics (CRG), the first Cornell-wide center encompassing clinicians and scientists from the College of Veterinary Medicine and from the Weill-Cornell Medical College, as well as participants from other colleges within Cornell University. In 2013, she successfully obtained a P50 grant to fund research within the CRG as part of the NICHD “National Centers for Translational Research in Reproduction and Infertility”. She has co-authored over 70 papers, served as a regular and ad hoc member on several different NIH Study Sections, as well as several Special Emphasis panels for NICHD and NIGMS. Dr. Cohen has reviewed grants for international panels, including serving on the advisory board for the German Government’s Research Foundation for their special priority program in “Genome Haploidization” for six years, as well as for the UK’s Medical Research Council and Royal Society, the Wellcome Foundation (UK), The Telethon Foundation (Italy), and for the European Research Council. In 2016, she was elected by her peers to become the vice-Chair for the 2018 Gordon Research Conference on Meiosis and the chair for the 2020 meeting, which was delayed until 2022. As a result of this delay, and the COVID19 pandemic, Dr. Cohen initiated the “Meiosis in Quarantine” webinar series throughout the summer of 2020. This was a highly popular seminar series that attracted thousands of scientists worldwide and spawned numerous similar series, including the follow-up “MAYosis Series” in May 2021.
Dr. Cohen previously served as associate editor for the journal, Chromosoma, and currently serves in that role for PLoS Genetics. She previously served on the editorial advisory board of Chromosome Research. She has participated as a lecturer and lab leader in the Frontiers in Reproduction (FIR) course at the Marine Biology Labs at Woods Hole, MA, for the past fifteen years. In 2015, she contributed the first chapter on meiosis for the 4th Edition of Knobil and Neil’s Physiology of Reproduction (Elsevier Press). She has served as the Director of Admissions for the Graduate Field in Genetics and Development, and on the steering committee for that field as well as for the graduate field of Molecular and Integrative Physiology. While at Cornell, she has received numerous merit awards for her research contributions, the Provost’s award for Distinguished Scholarship (2009), and the SUNY Chancellor’s award for Academic Excellence (2017). In 2018, she became Associate Vice Provost for Life Sciences, a role that she continues to this day. In her own lab, Dr. Cohen has mentored 14 graduate students, 13 Postdoctoral fellows, 1 reproductive endocrinology fellow, and dozens of undergraduate and high school students.
Maxwell Edmonds
Margarida Fardilha
Jeffrey Lee
Application of Novel Models of Male Reproductive Function for Contraceptive Discovery
Description
Oral Presentation Abstracts: