SSR 2025 Rising Stars #1
Speaker: Devanshi Jain, Rutgers University
Title: Critical Roles of Germ Cell Intercellular Bridges in Spermatogenesis
Description: Germ cell connectivity via intercellular bridges is a widely conserved feature across metazoans but its functional significance in many organisms including in mammals is poorly understood. Intercellular bridges are essential for fertility in male mice as genetic ablation of a critical bridge component, TEX14, causes loss of germ cell connectivity and meiotic failure, however the underlying reasons are unknown. In this talk, I will describe how we used a combination of genetic, genomic and molecular approaches to characterize the roles of intercellular bridges during mouse spermatogenesis and uncover why germ cell connectivity is essential for male fertility.
Speaker: Miguel Brieno-Enriquez, University of Pittsburgh
Title: Forever Young: Lessons From the Naked Mole-Rat Ovary
Description: The naked mole-rat is well known for being the longest-lived rodent (maximum lifespan >41 years). Female naked mole-rats are exceptional in showing no decline in fertility or fecundity into their third decade of life, whereas comparably sized mice have reduced fertility by 9 months of age. However, most individuals in a naked mole-rat colony will never be reproductively active, it is only those that become dominant breeding females (queen) that will breed until they die. Our long-term goal is to understand how naked mole-rats escape age-associated decline in fertility and fecundity for over 40 years.