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Gerald P. Schatten, PhD

Director, Division of Developmental & Regenerative Medicine; Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, Reproductive Sciences & Cell Biology & of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute

Understanding fertilization is essential for diagnosing and treating infertility, and for contraceptive optimizations. By exploring defects in gametes, our discoveries are improving Assisted Reproduction Technologies.
Gerald P. Schatten, PhD

Research in Brief

Professor Schatten has directly trained over 50 doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, along with several MD, MD-PhD and DVM trainees. He is extremely active in advanced research training and was one of the three founding directors of the FRONTIERS IN REPRODUCTION, the premier reproduction training vehicle for MD and PhDs. Along with Dr Roger Pedersen, Dr Schatten is the founding course director of Frontiers in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (FrHESC) – an intensive laboratory and lecture-based introduction to this emerging research field. He co-directs FRONTIERS IN STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION taught annually at Woods Hole and directs FRONTIERS IN STEM CELLS IN CANCER at Howard University and Ponce School of Medicine, FRONTIERS IN AGING AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE at Xavier University, Morehouse School of Medicine and Meharry Medical College and REHABILITATIVE AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE FOR MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES at Howard University and Morehouse School of Medicine, all of which are supported by the NIH. He is currently President of UNESCO’s International Cell Research Organization.

With extensive funding from the National Institutes of Health, Dr Schatten is the recipient of an NIH MERIT, and earlier Research Career Development Award, was honored by the Czech Academy of Sciences with their Purkinje Medal of Science, elected as a Delegate of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, a Mentor Awardee of the American Society for Cell Biology, elected Australian Society for Reproductive Biology President’s Lecturer, awarded the Daniel Mazia Award from Stanford University and a Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctorate) from the University of Nova Gorica, presented by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, among other honors. His > 300 papers on stem cells, regeneration, fertilization, cell biology, development, infertility, assisted reproductive technologies, as well as strategies for rectifying past injustices in scientific careers, have appeared in premier journals including Nature and Science. Dr Schatten is also an eloquent advocate for research in reproduction, development, regeneration and stem cells.

  • Schatten, G, Simerly C, Manil-Ségalen M, Castro C, Redinger C, Kong D, Verlhac M-H, Loncarek J. Separation and Loss of Centrioles from Primordidal Germ Cells to Mature Oocytes in the Mouse. Scientific Reports, 2018.10.1101/339572.
  • Fishman EL, Jo K, Nguyen QPH, Kong D, Royfman R, Cekic AR, Khanal S, Miller AL, Simerly C, Schatten G, Loncarek J, Mennella V, Avidor-Reiss T. A novel atypical sperm centriole is functional during human fertilization. Nat Commun. 2018 Jun 7;9(1):2210. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04678-8. Erratum in: Nat Commun. 2018 Jul 13;9(1):2800. PubMed PMID: 29880810; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5992222.
  • Fishman EL, Jo K, Nguyen QPH, Kong D, Royfman R, Cekic AR, Khanal S, Miller AL, Simerly C, Schatten G, Loncarek J, Mennella V, Avidor-Reiss T. A novel atypical sperm centriole is functional during human fertilization. Nat Commun. 2018 Jun 7;9(1):2210. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04678-8. Erratum in: Nat Commun. 2018 Jul 13;9(1):2800. PubMed PMID: 29880810; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5992222.
  • Schatten G, Stearns T. Sperm Centrosomes: Kiss Your Asterless Goodbye, for Fertility’s Sake. Curr Biol. 2015 Dec 21;25(24):R1178-81. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.015. PubMed PMID: 26702655.
  • Schatten G, Simerly C. LEGOs® and legacies of centrioles and centrosomes. EMBO Rep. 2015 Sep;16(9):1052-4. doi: 10.15252/embr.201540875. Epub 2015 Aug 6. PubMed PMID: 26249334; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4576973.
  • Hewitson L, Dominko T, Takahashi D, Ramalho-Santos J, Sutovsky P, Fanton J, Jacob D, Monteith D, Neuringe, M, Battaglia D, Simerly C, & Schatten G. Births of ICSI monkeys: Unique Checkpoints during the First Cell Cycle of Fertilization. Nat Med, 1999;5(4):431-
    433.
  • Luetjens CM, Payne C, & Schatten G. Non-random Chromosome Positioning in Human Sperm and Sex Chromosome Anomalies Following Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). The Lancet, 1999;353:1240.
  • Sutovsky P, Moreno R, Ramalho-Santos J, & Schatten G. Ubiquitin Tag for Sperm Mitochondria. Nat, 1999;402:371-372.
  • Chan AWS, Chong KY, Martinovich C, Simerly C, & Schatten G. Transgenic Monkeys Produced by Retroviral Gene Transfer into Mature Oocytes. Sci, 2001;291:309-312.
  • Simerly C, Dominko T, Navara C, Payne C, Capuano S, Gosman G, Chong KY, Compton D, Hewitson L, & Schatten G. Molecular Correlates of Primate Nuclear Transfer Failures. Sci, 2003;300:297.
  • St. John JC & Schatten G. Paternal mitochondrial DNA transmission during NHP nuclear transfer. Genetics, 2004;167(2): 897-905.
  • Navara CS, Ben-Yehudah A, Castro C, Redinger CJ, Jacoby E, McFarland D, Mich-Basso, J, Qidwai H, Kovkarova-Naumovski E, Kaminski N, Simerly CR, & Schatten G. Pedigreed primate embryonic stem cells [nhpESC] express homogeneous familial gene profiles. Stem Cells, 2007;25(11):2695-704.
  • Schatten G & Mitalipov S. Developmental biology: Transgenic primate offspring. Nature, 2009;459(7246):515-6.
  • Momčilović O, Choi S, Varum S, Bakkenist C, Schatten G, & Navara C. Ionizing radiation induces ATM dependent checkpoint signaling and G2 but not G1 cell cycle arrest in human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells, 2009;27(8):1822-35.
  • Ben-Yehudah A, Navara CS, Redinger CJ, Mich-Basso JD, Castro CA, Chensny LJ, Richards TF, Kaminski N, & Schatten GP. Pluripotency genes overexpressed in primate embryonic stem cells are localized on homologues of human chromosomes 16, 17, 19 and X. Stem Cell Res, 2010;4(1):25-37.
  • Momcilovic O, Knobloch L, Fornsaglio J, Varum S, Easley C, & Schatten G. DNA damage responses in human induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cells. PLoS One 2010;5(10):e13410,.
  • Schatten G. Cellular promiscuity: explaining cellular fidelity in vivo against unrestrained pluripotency in vitro. EMBO Rep. 2013;14(1):4. Erratum in: EMBO Rep. 2013;14(2):212.
  • Zhang X, Simerly C, Hartnett C, Schatten G, Smithgall TE. Src-family tyrosine kinase activities are essential for differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cell Res. 2014;13(3 Pt A):379-89.
  • Thompson WE, Pattillo RA, Stiles JK, Schatten G. Biomedical research’s unpaid debt: NIH’s initiative to support and implement fairer competition for minority students is a welcome step to redress the exploitation of African Americans by science. EMBO Rep.2014;15(4):333-7.
  • Huleihel L, Ben-Yehudah A, Milosevic J, Yu G, Pandit K, Sakamoto K, Yousef H, LeJeune M, Coon TA, Redinger CJ, Chensny L, Manor E, Schatten G, Kaminski N. Let-7d microRNA affects mesenchymal phenotypic properties of lung fibroblasts. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2014;306(6):L534-42.
  • Schatten G, Simerly C. LEGOs® and legacies of centrioles and centrosomes. EMBO Rep. 2015;16(9):1052-4.
  • Schatten G, Stearns T. Sperm Centrosomes: Kiss Your Asterless Goodbye, for Fertility’s Sake. Curr Biol. 2015;25(24):R1178-81.

For additional publications, visit Pubmed.

Calvin Simerly, PhD
Angela Palermo, BA
Carrie J. Hartnett, MFS

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