Grant: Operating Grant

Male-factor infertility affects up to 40% of couples struggling with fertility treatments in Canada. What causes this condition, however, remains unknown in many cases. The most common observation is impaired sperm production. Infertile men struggle to produce a minimal number of sperm, and the few sperm they do produce are more at risk of being genetically abnormal. Sperm with an abnormal number of chromosomes pose a health concern not only to the newborn, but also to the mother; pregnancies born from the infertile men's sperm have higher incidences of miscarriages as well as bearing children with genetic disorders such as Down syndrome. Thus, the main objective of our work is to identify which mechanisms could be contributing to the production of abnormal sperm in infertile men. We propose to evaluate the fundamental process in sperm production known as meiosis. We anticipate that there may be cytogenetic, genetic, and epigenetic differences associated with the process of meiosis specific to infertile men. The work done here will provide the groundwork for developing future therapeutic solutions towards healthy sperm production. The knowledge gained from this work will provide better risk assessments for men with infertility as well as couples undergoing assisted reproduction.