Dr. Anne Jørgensen is senior scientist at the Department of Growth and Reproduction, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Endocrinology Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Internal Medicine. She is currently investigating mechanisms leading to the arrest of normal fetal gonocyte differentiation and development of GCNIS cells using an ex vivo culture model of human fetal testis. In particular, the mechanisms that normally secure correct differentiation from gonocyte to pre-spermatogonia are investigated.
Dr. Judit Castillo Corullón holds a Serra Hunter Lecturer Teaching position at the Genetics Unit, Department of Biomedicine, University of Barcelona, and is a member of the Molecular Biology of Reproduction and Development research group (IDIBAPS). She specializes in male reproductive biology, with a focus on sperm proteomics and male fertility. Her research delves into the role of sperm chromatin proteins in infertility, offering valuable insights into how chromatin structure influences reproductive health and potential fertility outcomes.
Dr. Erika Matunis is a Professor of Cell Biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology. Her research focuses on how stem cells renew and differentiate. She uses the fruit fly testis as a model system, studying the molecular signals that control whether germline stem cells proliferate or differentiate into sperm. Her team recently discovered that cells transitioning into sperm can be redirected back into stem cells.
Dr. Geert Hamer is a Research Associate at the Amsterdam Reproduction & Development and Associate Professor, at the Reproductive Biology Laboratory, Amsterdam University Medical Centres. The work of Dr. Hamer focuses on genome stability maintenance and development of germ cells and human preimplantation embryos. His work unraveled the mechanisms that lead to meiotic arrest during human spermatogenesis and recently discovered a miRNA that is specifically secreted by, and aids the implantation of, good quality (euploid) human embryos.
Dr. Elizabeth Bromfield is an ARC DECRA Fellow at The University of Melbourne, where she leads the Reproductive Homeostasis Lab within The Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute. Liz completed her PhD in Reproductive Science in 2015 at The University of Newcastle, Australia with Professor Brett Nixon and Laureate Professor John Aitken. Her early work focused on understanding how molecular chaperones coordinate human sperm-egg recognition processes and how they are compromised by oxidative cellular damage in cases of male infertility. Liz completed an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship at Utrecht University, The Netherlands (2019-2021) with Associate Professor Bart Gadella where she trained in lipidomics and membrane biochemistry.