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R. John Aitken, ScD, FRSE
University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW Australia
Development of a Humane Non-Surgical Sterilization Method for Domestic Animals
3 years, $912,686
Laureate Professor Aitken’s research career began with a PhD in reproductive biology from the University of Cambridge. Following post-doctoral positions at the Institute of Animal Genetics, University of Edinburgh and the University of Bordeaux, he accepted joined the World Health Organization in Geneva.
There he managed two WHO task forces dealing with novel approaches to fertility regulation. In 1977, he joined the Medical Research Council’s Reproductive Biology Unit, University of Edinburgh, to establish a research group in gamete biology with clinical outreach into male infertility. In 1992, John was awarded an Honorary Professorship within the Faculty of Medicine of Edinburgh University, and in 1995 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1998 he received an ScD degree from the University of Cambridge and in the same year moved to the University of Newcastle, NSW, as Chair of Biological Sciences and, later, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development. He is currently Laureate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Newcastle and has research interests that cover both male and female reproductive physiology.
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Meenakshi Alreja, PhD
Yale University
Development of a non-surgical sterilization method in mice
3 years, $675,538
Meenakshi Alreja is a neuroscientist with a deep interest in reproductive neuroendocrinology.
After receiving her Ph.D. in India she came to Yale University for her post-doctoral training and went on to join the faculty at the Yale School of Medicine. Trained as a cellular electrophysiologist, Dr. Alreja uses a combination of neurophysiological, pharmacological and neuroanatomical approaches to delve into brain mechanisms underlying maintenance and loss of fertility and onset of puberty.
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Larry Chamley, PhD
University of Auckland, New Zealand
SPRASA- An Immunocontraceptive with a Difference
1 year, $175,000
Dr. Larry Chamley is the scientific head of the Biology and Immunology of Reproduction Research Group at The University of Auckland.
This group is investigating the development of antisperm antibodies as potential contraceptive vaccines and in the diagnosis of infertility. Larry is also researching the role of antiphospholipid antibodies and antisperm antibodies in causing diseases of pregnancy such as preeclampsia. Other interests include how the placenta develops in early pregnancy, and how the mother’s immune system allows the placenta and fetus to survive.
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Paul R. Copeland, PhD
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ
Targeting Selenoprotein P for Male Contraception in Mammals
1 year, $108,462
Paul. R. Copeland is an Associate Professor at the UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, NJ. His lab has been attempting to decipher the molecular basis for our dietary requirement for selenium since 2002.
He started in the selenium/selenocysteine field in Dr. Donna Driscoll’s lab at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Lerner Research Institute. Recent work has included the identification and characterization of the key factors required to program mammalian ribosomes to incorporate the unique amino acid selenocysteine, which is required for the function of at least 25 human proteins. Among those is glutathione peroxidase 4, which is absolutely required for male fertility.
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Beverly L. Davidson, PhD
University of Iowa Medical School, Iowa City, IA
Inducing stable infertility by RNA interference
3 grants totaling 5 years, $1,033,499
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Cristina Gobello, Dr.Vet.Med., Dipl ECAR
National University of La Plata (FVS-NULP), Argentina
Prepubertal Administration of GnRH Agonists in Domestic Cats
3 years, $91,638
Studies in Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences of National University of La Plata (FVS-NULP), Argentina.
Diploma in University Teaching (NULP). Specialty in Canine and Feline Medicine (CVP-BsAs). Dr.Vet.Med. degree (PhD equivalent) FVS-NULP (1999). Diplomate of the European College for Animal Reproduction (ECAR). Career Scientist (National Research Council). Professor Small Animal & Reproduction (FVS-NULP). Author of international peer reviewed publications and book chapters in small animal reproduction.
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William W. Ja, PhD
Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL
FSH Receptor Ligand-Cytotoxin Conjugates for Permanent Chemosterilization
2 years, $206,280
William Ja’s lab at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida uses expertise in chemistry, biology, and genetics to study genes and molecules that are involved in aging, behavior, and disease.
His lab primarily uses the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model organism in diverse areas of research including: the role of nutrients on aging, the genetics of feeding and courtship behavior, the effects of commensal and symbiotic gut bacteria on hosts, and the structure and function of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). In association with the Found Animals Foundation, they are building on their biochemical expertise on GPCRs to develop new receptor-targeting ligands that have the chemosterilants potential.
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Douglas E. Jones, MS, VMD, PhD
Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine
Development of a Vaccine Delivery Device that will Maintain Life-Long High Titers of Anti-GnRH Antibodies
3 years, $324,000
Dr. Jones has been part of the faculty at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine for 12 years.
His central research interest is the host-pathogen relationship of chronic infectious diseases. This interest has led to diverse projects including mathematical modeling of host-pathogen interactions and vaccination approaches that would be effective at promoting enduring protective immunity. The approach that his group has put forward for a single shot reproductive sterilization vaccine encompasses expertise from a diverse group of people including industrial engineers, materials science engineers, chemists, immunologists and veterinarians.
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Megan Lloyd, PhD
University of Western Australia, Crawley WA Australia
Contraception in companion animals using a recombinant viral vector
1 year, $187,880
Dr Megan Lloyd began her research career in 1991 in the Bacteriology department of Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital.
She worked as part of a team that isolated and characterised a novel Rickettsial species, Rickettsia honei, with Dr Brian Dwyer and Dr Robert Baird. In 1995 Dr Lloyd joined the laboratory of Professor Geoffrey Shellam at the University of Western Australia as part of the Vertebrate Biocontrol Cooperative Research Centre and later the Pest Animal Control Cooperative Research Centre. This research involved the successful construction of a mouse-specific viral vaccine, a genetically modified mouse cytomegalovirus engineered to express an ovarian glycoprotein, zona pellucida 3. This vaccine was designed to induce infertility in mice to address the increasing frequency of mouse plagues in Australia. Continuing in Professor Shellam’s laboratory and in collaboration with Professor Sarah Robertson and Dr Sean O’Leary at the University of Adelaide, Dr Lloyd successfully demonstrated that autoantibody to ZP3 induced by the vaccine was principally responsible for infertility resulting in structural changes to the follicles. Her research interests are the development of effective contraceptive vaccines for pest animal populations and early autoimmune disease in the ovary.
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Philippa Marrack, PhD
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO
Use of Attenuated Recombinant Herpesviruses, Expressing Fertility Antigens, To Induce Infertility in Cats and Dogs
4 years, $732,900
Philippa “Pippa” Marrack is a Professor at National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado in Denver. She is an immunologist who studies many aspects of T cell biology including development, apoptosis, memory and autoimmunity.
She also has a strong interest in vaccine adjuvants. She collaborates closely with her husband, John Kappler. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London. She enjoys spending time with her grandchildren and long runs with her chocolate labs Tina and Lucy.
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Ralph G. Meyer, PhD
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Targeting Poly(ADP-ribose) Metabolism for Development of a Nonsurgical Sterilant
3 years, $577,380
Ralph G. Meyer performed his PhD research at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg and received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology from University of Kaiserslautern in 1998 for his studies in cancer cell biology and DNA repair.
After postdoctoral training first at the University of Tubingen and then at the University of Arizona at Tucson, AZ, as an Assistant Research Scientist (research track), he moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 for his current position as Assistant Professor (tenure track) in the Animal Biology department of the School of Veterinary Medicine in Philadelphia, PA.
Research in Dr. Meyer’s laboratory is centered on functions of poly(ADP-ribose) metabolism in DNA repair and chromatin remodeling events during male germ cell development and how fertility is negatively affected by environmental factors such as diet and DNA damaging agents. He is also a member of the Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research and the Penn Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology. The Found Animals Foundation awarded Dr. Meyer and his group a Michelson Grant in Reproductive Biology in 2010 to pursue the development of an oral sterilant to humanely stem feral pet animal overpopulation.
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Michael Munks, PhD
National Jewish Health, Denver, CO
Use of Attenuated Recombinant Herpesviruses, Expressing Fertility Antigens, To Induce Infertility in Cats and Dogs
Grant Award: 4 years, $732,900
Michael Munks is a postdoc in Pippa Marrack’s lab at National Jewish Health. For his PhD, he characterized the acute and long-term CD8 T cell memory response to mouse CMV, a mouse-specific herpesvirus.
Since joining the Marrack lab, he has studied induction of innate and adaptive responses by aluminum adjuvants. He and his wife live near Boulder, where they enjoy outdoor activities with their three kids, Sophie, Sam and Stella. Their pets include two rescued cats, Buttercup and Raven.
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Benjamin Renquist, PhD
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Increasing the Circulating Half-life of GnRH-RIP Conjugates to Improve In vivo Efficacy
3 years, $407,352
Dr. Benjamin Renquist has trained at the University of California, Davis (Ph.D.), Oregon Health and Science University (Post-doc), and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Post-doc).
He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Arizona. The Renquist lab is interested in understanding the biochemical basis for overeating and subsequently obesity. They are currently investigating the role of peripheral fatty acid metabolism in meal initiation.
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Tatiana I. Samoylova, PhD
Auburn University, Auburn, AL
Phage-GnRH constructs and their mimics for immunocontraception of cats and dogs
2 years, $412,106
Dr. Tatiana Samoylova is a protein/peptide biochemist with a strong research interest in phage display technology. Her major phage display projects are in reproductive biology, focusing on development of contraceptive vaccines for feral and wild animals.
Dr. Samoylova received her MS degree in Botany and Zoology from Kiev National University (Kiev, USSR) in 1982 and her PhD in Biochemistry from the Institute of Experimental Botany (Minsk, USSR) in 1991. She was a postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Molecular Genetics (IPK, Gatersleben, Germany) from 1994 to 1996. She moved to the United States to join the Scott-Ritchey Research Center (SRRC) at the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine (AUCVM) as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Samoylova currently is a Scientist at the SRRC and an Associate Research Professor at the Department of Pathobiology, AUCVM.
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A.C. Schaefers-Okkens, DVM, PhD
University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
Kisspeptin: the Endocrinological Gatekeeper to Reproductive Function. A Realistic Target for Non-surgical Contraceptive in the Dog
1 year, $252,271
Dr. Auke Schaefers-Okkens studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. The title of her PhD thesis was: “The hormonal regulation of the cyclic corpus luteum of the dog.”
She is an European College of Animal Reproduction (ECAR) diplomat and has a Senior Qualification for both Research and Teaching and is an internationally recognized expert in her field with many international peer reviewed publications in addition to several book chapters concerning small animal reproduction.
She works as teacher and researcher at the Department of Clinical of Sciences of Companion Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht. Her research, carried out in a team of enthusiastic colleagues, focusses mainly on the endocrinology of reproduction. However, within the research group are also specialists working in the fields of immunology, cell biology, etc.
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Lee Smith, PhD
MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, UK
Targeting somatic cells to develop a non-surgical sterilant
2.5 Years $609,469
Professor Lee Smith began his career with a PhD in Molecular Genetics at the University of Warwick, UK.
He then completed two postdoctoral positions at the MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit in Harwell, UK, working on mammalian sex determination and testis development. Lee moved to Edinburgh in 2006 to lead a UK Medical Research Council funded programme of research within the MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit. In 2012, Lee was promoted to Chair of Genetic Endocrinology and now works as a Principal Investigator at the newly inaugurated MRC Centre for Reproductive Health within the University of Edinburgh. Although Lee retains interests in many aspects of reproductive genetics and endocrinology, his group’s primary focus is on elucidating the role of testosterone signalling in development and function of the male reproductive system.
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R. Scott Struthers, PhD
Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, CA
Two Grants: Novel Toxin Conjugates for Nonsurgical Sterilization Via Gonadotroph Ablation, Targeted Ablation of GnRH Neurons for Nonsurgical Sterilization
2 years, $540,207 and 4 years, $860,911
R. Scott Struthers (President & Chief Scientific Officer) received his Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California, San Diego at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Following his degree, Dr. Struthers joined Biosym Technologies where he led their contract research efforts developing and applying computational tools for drug discovery. He subsequently co-founded ScienceMedia Inc. to develop award winning marketing, communications & eLearning solutions for the life sciences and higher education markets. In 1998, he joined Neurocrine Biosciences where he initiated and led the company’s efforts to discover orally active, nonpeptide GnRH antagonists. This resulted in a first-in-class compound, elagolix, that has recently reported multiple successful phase II studies, including a 6-month, 250 patient study in endometriosis demonstrating a 86% responder rate & excellent safety profile. He held a series of positions at Neurocrine, most recently Senior Director and Head, Endocrinology and Metabolism. In 2008 he founded Crinetics Pharmaceuticals to develop novel neuropeptide receptor targeted therapeutics for the treatment of endocrine diseases and cancers. Dr. Struthers research interests include neuropeptide biology, reproductive and metabolic endocrinology, GPCR biophysics and signaling, and drug discovery. He is an author of more than 75 scientific publications and co-inventor on 7 patents.
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Kent R. Van Kampen, DVM, PhD
Vaxin, Inc., Birmingham, AL
A Vectored GnRH Contraceptive Vaccine to Control Dog and Cat Overpopulation
3 years, $1,082,774
Kent R. Van Kampen has an extensive career in developing vaccines against both human and animal pathogens.
He is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and an Honor Member of the American Veterinary Medical Association. He is the former Head of the Department of Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences at Utah State University and has been in key leadership positions at Medtronic, ImmunoMed, Virogenetics and Vaxin. He is the recipient of a BS degree from Utah State University, a DVM from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in Comparative Pathology from the University of California (Davis). He is the author of over 80 publications and holds numerous patents.
