Postal address: Utvecklingsbiologi, Avdelningen för mikrobiologi och molekylär medicin (MMM), Institutionen för Klinisk och Experimentell medicin (IKE), SE-581 85 Linköping, Sweden
Visiting address: MMM/Utvecklingsbiologi, Hälsovägen, entrance 65
Web address: https://www.liu.se/medfak/ike/forskning/utvecklingsbiologi?l=en
Contact person: Heriberto Rodriguez-Martinez, Professor of Reproductive Biology, phone: +46 (0)10-103 22 84
The researchers work on the development of a multi-cellular complex organism from a single cell – the fertilized egg. Development to term involves a myriad of complex gene regulatory processes, cell-cell interactions, short- and long-range signals, as well as hormonal cues. It starts already during the process of gametogenesis – producing functional germ cells i.e. oocyte and spermatozoa under metabolic and hormonal control, their interaction with paternal and maternal environments followed by dynamic embryonic and postembryonic development pathways.
Work within this area has been of great medical importance. Understanding development has been vital for identifying, and perhaps in the future even correcting, developmental defects in fetuses. Understanding gametogenesis and the mechanisms used by gametes to interact with paternal and maternal environments (cell-environment) and among themselves (cell-cell) has promoted better diagnosis of the reasons behind the growing problem of infertility in the industrialized world. Research in cell-cell and cell-environment communication, often referred to as signal transduction, is also a basic component of cancer research. Noteworthy, a large number of transduction pathways have been primarily identified while performing developmental studies. Developmental biology has moreover contributed greatly to the growing notion linking stem cell biology with cancer development.
South Asia Related Research
Born in Spain 1950, Professor Heriberto Rodriguez-Martinez grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay. H edefended his PhD in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, in 1983. He became Full Professor of Reproductive Biotechnology at the Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynecology (now Division of Reproduction), SLU, in 1991. He holds his current position at Linköping University since 2010.
In November 2015, he received a Swedish Research Links grant from the Swedish Research Council for a three-year project (2016-18) entitled Sexual Selection and Adaptation during Avian Domestication in Bangladesh. For the project a total amount of 1.2 million SEK has been granted. The project will be completed in collaboration with Sylhet Agricultural University (SAU) and Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU). The project shall provide training and research opportunities for doctoral students and junior faculty to enhance technical and research capabilities in either country/laboratory. The main collaboration partner on the Bangladeshi side is Md. Nazmul Haque from the Department of Applied Nutrition and Food Technology at CVASU.
This project aims to identify signatures of natural and sexual selection existing in rural indigenous domesticated and wild chicken (Red Jungle fowl, RJF) populations in Bangladesh. Using selective sweep analysis the researchers, together with Bengali researchers, identify and assess gene pathways affecting sexual selection traits. Focus is given to the variability surrounding these genes, what type of selection is present on the genes in the wild, and what other regions are being subjected to selection in natural, indigenous populations. Moreover, it will build up cryopreservation of germplasm (e.g. sperm and gonad tissue) for gene banking purposes and the maintenance of variation for both RJF and indigenous chicken for research and breeding. The knowledge acquired aims improving Bengali chicken stock and aid sustainability of chicken village production by identifying prominent genes that maintain survival in local environments, whilst maximizing productivity and sustainability.
More information about the South Asia related Swedish Research Links grants 2015.