Steven L’Hernault,
Professor and Chair
$150,000 / 2 years Awarded 2022
$150,000 / 2 years
Awarded 2019

Steven L’Hernault, PhD

Emory University
Atlanta, GA

About
Dr. L’Hernault is a Professor and has been the Chair of Biology at Emory University since 2010. His laboratory has worked on spermatogenesis and fertilization in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans for 31 years. His laboratory has discovered several proteins (for which there are human equivalents) that prevent an otherwise normal- looking sperm from participating in fertilization, including the subject of this proposal, SPE-45. His scholarly work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and private industry. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was the 2019 Chair of the Gordon Conference on Fertilization and Activation of Development.

Our Grant
The mammalian IZUMO1 protein has sperm-specific expression and is found on the spermatozoon surface where it is required for fertilization. The nematode C. elegans expresses an IZUMO1 equivalent named SPE-45. The L’Hernault lab has developed a way to make fertilization in C. elegans dependent on either a SPE-45-human IZUMO1 or SPE-45-mouse IZUMO1 hybrid protein. Unlike mammalian fertilization, C. elegans fertilization occurs in a 1 mm long hermaphrodite, so male/female mating and all of its attendant complexities are not issues. Furthermore, this nematode can be handled robotically and is suited to large-scale, high throughput screening approaches.

MCI has continued our funding of Dr. L’Hernault's work to discover male contraceptive lead compounds that block the function of IZUMO1. The goal is to identify small compounds that, when used to treat C. elegans expressing a SPE-45-human IZUMO1 hybrid protein, render them reversibly sterile because they produce fertilization-incompetent spermatozoa. While these initial studies will occur in nematodes, subsequent future studies will evaluate lead compounds for their ability to block mouse in vitro fertilization prior to any large-scale, expensive whole mammal/human studies. 

Press Releases
​Emory Biologist Receives $150,000 Grant for Male Contraceptive Research
January 9th, 2020

MCI Grantee: Emory University (Dr. Steven L’Hernault)

Publications
Nishimura, H., T. Tajima, H. S. Comstra, E. J. Gleason and S. W., L’Hernault 2015. The immunoglobulin-like gene spe-45 acts during fertilization in Caenorhabditis elegans like the mouse Izumo1 gene. Curr Biol. 25: 3225-3231

Singson, A., Mercer, K. B. and S. W., L’Hernault 1998. The Caenorhabditis elegans spe-9 gene encodes a sperm transmembrane protein that contains EGF-like repeats and is required for fertilization. Cell 93: 1-20