Renee Reijo Pera

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Renee Reijo Pera
Renee Reijo Pera.jpg
Born
United States
Alma mater University of Wisconsin–Superior, BS, 1983

Kansas State University, MS, 1987

Cornell University, PhD, 1993
Known forHuman reproductive biologist
SpouseFred Pera
Scientific career
FieldsStem Cell Biology
Institutions California Polytechnic State University (current)
Montana State University
Stanford University
University of California, San Francisco
Whitehead Institute

Renee Reijo Pera is a stem cell biologist and the President of the McLaughlin Research Institute in Great Falls, MT. She previously served as Vice President of Research and Economic Development, for more than 8 years at the California Polytechnic State University and at Montana State University. Reijo Pera's research focuses on human development and disease, in particular, on the development and differentiation of somatic and germ cell lineages and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and also infertility in men and women.

Contents

Education and early career

Reijo Pera grew up in Iron River, Wisconsin as the youngest of six children. She initially enrolled in University of Wisconsin–Superior as a business major, but switched her interests during her junior year after taking a class on human genetics for non-majors. [1] She changed her major to biology and received her bachelor's degree in 1983, becoming the first in her family to finish a four-year degree. [2]

She then attended Kansas State University to work as a research technician, and ultimately received her master's degree in entomology. [1] She next attended Cornell University, where she received her doctorate in biochemistry in 1993, working in the laboratory of Tim Huffaker. There, her research centered on studying mitotic and meiotic mutants in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae .

In 1993, Reijo Pera became a postdoctoral researcher at the Whitehead Institute, which is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, she worked in the laboratory of David C. Page, where she worked to map genes linked to male infertility on the Y chromosome, including those that result in a total loss of sperm. [3]

Research career

Career trajectory and leadership

In 1997, Reijo Pera became an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco and in 2003 became the co-director of the UCSF Human Development Center after receiving a promotion to Associate Professor. In 2007, she moved her laboratory to Stanford University, where she was a Professor. She later became the director of Stanford's Center for Human Stem Cell Research and Education, as well as the Center for Reproductive and Stem Cell Biology and served as the George D. Smith endowed Professor.

In 2014, she became the Vice President of Research and Economic Development at Montana State University, seeking to have a larger impact on science education in the public university arena. [4] During her tenure, she helped to grow the university's total research expenditures to a record of $131 million and increased the number of funded student projects by over 20 percent. [5] In 2019, she moved again to California Polytechnic State University to serve as the Vice President of Research and Economic Development.

Research interests

Reijo Pera has cited her experience of developing a rare kind of ovarian cancer, called a granulosa cell tumour, early in her career as a motivating factor for her decision to study human development and fertility. [2] The cancer resulted in her own loss of fertility. [6]

In men, her research team and collaborators have investigated mechanisms of male infertility. In a study published in 2000, she found that some infertile men have mutations in the genes required for DNA repair, which in turn may lead to defects in meiotic cell division—also known as meiotic arrest—and inviable sperm. [7] [8] Her research group has also worked on developing alternative solutions for men experiencing infertility through an understanding of how immature sperm cells form. Her research has documented how immature sperm cells can be differentiated from stem cells derived from skin cells (fibroblasts) with the hope of ultimately using the knowledge obtained to assist infertile men with maturation of endogenous cells. [9] [10] Her team extracted skin cells from infertile men and induced them to become induced pluripotent stem cells, which can subsequently be used to study many different cell types of the body and many different diseases. Although studies such as these can stir up some controversy, leading to discussions around misuse of such a technology, the studies are primarily basic science studies and are intended to generate knowledge that can be used to help infertile men produce viable sperm cells of their own. [9] [11]

Panel discussion "What it Means to Be Human" at the 2008 World Science Festival. From left to right: Paul Nurse, Marvin Minsky, Ian Tattersall, Renee Reijo Pera, Daniel Dennett, Harold Varmus, Francis Collins, Jim Gates, Nikolas Rose, Patricia Churchland, Antonio Damasio, Charlie Rose Whatitmeans wsf2008.jpg
Panel discussion "What it Means to Be Human" at the 2008 World Science Festival. From left to right: Paul Nurse, Marvin Minsky, Ian Tattersall, Renee Reijo Pera, Daniel Dennett, Harold Varmus, Francis Collins, Jim Gates, Nikolas Rose, Patricia Churchland, Antonio Damasio, Charlie Rose

Reijo Pera has also worked to develop methods to improve the chances of pregnancy during in vitro fertilization by being able to identify and select healthy embryos for implantation. [12] [13] To do so, she and her team of collaborators essentially devised a method to film the embryos in the clinic using a microscope as it divides for the first time and then measure the differences between that process across embryos to score which are the most viable. [14] Specifically, they score embryos based on the time it takes to complete the first three cell divisions (i.e. from one cell to 8). Her team was able to predict with 93% accuracy which embryos had the greatest chance of resulting in a successful pregnancy. This work was named a Top 10 Biomedical Breakthrough by Time in 2010. [15]

More broadly, Reijo Pera has also worked to understand human disease, especially Parkinson's disease and how pluripotent embryonic stem cells are ultimately able to mature into their specialized adult forms. [16] She and her collaborators decided to focus their attention on identifying certain developmental milestones that occur in an embryo one week after fertilization, measuring gene expression in individual cells. They identified genes that were derived from the human endogenous retrovirus K, which activate key genes during early development and confer the embryo with immunity against other viruses. [17] [18] They later found that the human endogenous retrovirus-H produced key RNA molecules that could either activate or silence genes, acting as "switches" for gene expression. [19] Her team found that these switches could help maintain pluripotency.

Entrepreneurship

Reijo Pera has worked to bring her research from "bench to bedside", founding startups geared towards addressing infertility. In 2008, she was a cofounder of Auxogyn, Inc; in 2015, Auxogyn and Fertility Authorities merged to form Progyny, a start-up offering plans to large companies that would help their female employees cover the cost of fertility treatments; in 2018, the company was named a "Disruptor 50" by CNBC. [20] Progyny went public on the NASDAQ in October 2019 with a market cap of $3.5–4B in 2022.

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stem cell</span> Undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells

In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell in a cell lineage. They are found in both embryonic and adult organisms, but they have slightly different properties in each. They are usually distinguished from progenitor cells, which cannot divide indefinitely, and precursor or blast cells, which are usually committed to differentiating into one cell type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zygote</span> Diploid eukaryotic cell formed by fertilization between two gametes

A zygote is a eukaryotic cell formed by a fertilization event between two gametes. The zygote's genome is a combination of the DNA in each gamete, and contains all of the genetic information of a new individual organism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embryo</span> Multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development

An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sperm cell. The resulting fusion of these two cells produces a single-celled zygote that undergoes many cell divisions that produce cells known as blastomeres. The blastomeres are arranged as a solid ball that when reaching a certain size, called a morula, takes in fluid to create a cavity called a blastocoel. The structure is then termed a blastula, or a blastocyst in mammals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In vitro fertilisation</span> Assisted reproductive technology procedure

In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro. The process involves monitoring and stimulating a woman's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova from her ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a culture medium in a laboratory. After the fertilised egg (zygote) undergoes embryo culture for 2–6 days, it is transferred by catheter into the uterus, with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somatic cell nuclear transfer</span> Method of creating a cloned embryo by replacing the egg nucleus with a body cell nucleus

In genetics and developmental biology, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a laboratory strategy for creating a viable embryo from a body cell and an egg cell. The technique consists of taking an denucleated oocyte and implanting a donor nucleus from a somatic (body) cell. It is used in both therapeutic and reproductive cloning. In 1996, Dolly the sheep became famous for being the first successful case of the reproductive cloning of a mammal. In January 2018, a team of scientists in Shanghai announced the successful cloning of two female crab-eating macaques from foetal nuclei.

Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species. It is the normal state of a human child or other young offspring, because they have not undergone puberty, which is the body's start of reproductive capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gametogenesis</span> Biological process

Gametogenesis is a biological process by which diploid or haploid precursor cells undergo cell division and differentiation to form mature haploid gametes. Depending on the biological life cycle of the organism, gametogenesis occurs by meiotic division of diploid gametocytes into various gametes, or by mitosis. For example, plants produce gametes through mitosis in gametophytes. The gametophytes grow from haploid spores after sporic meiosis. The existence of a multicellular, haploid phase in the life cycle between meiosis and gametogenesis is also referred to as alternation of generations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germ cell</span> Gamete-producing cell

A germ cell is any cell that gives rise to the gametes of an organism that reproduces sexually. In many animals, the germ cells originate in the primitive streak and migrate via the gut of an embryo to the developing gonads. There, they undergo meiosis, followed by cellular differentiation into mature gametes, either eggs or sperm. Unlike animals, plants do not have germ cells designated in early development. Instead, germ cells can arise from somatic cells in the adult, such as the floral meristem of flowering plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embryonic stem cell</span> Type of pluripotent blastocystic stem cell

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre-implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells. Isolating the inner cell mass (embryoblast) using immunosurgery results in destruction of the blastocyst, a process which raises ethical issues, including whether or not embryos at the pre-implantation stage have the same moral considerations as embryos in the post-implantation stage of development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assisted reproductive technology</span> Methods to achieve pregnancy by artificial or partially artificial means

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) includes medical procedures used primarily to address infertility. This subject involves procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), cryopreservation of gametes or embryos, and/or the use of fertility medication. When used to address infertility, ART may also be referred to as fertility treatment. ART mainly belongs to the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Some forms of ART may be used with regard to fertile couples for genetic purpose. ART may also be used in surrogacy arrangements, although not all surrogacy arrangements involve ART. The existence of sterility will not always require ART to be the first option to consider, as there are occasions when its cause is a mild disorder that can be solved with more conventional treatments or with behaviors based on promoting health and reproductive habits.

Male infertility refers to a sexually mature male's inability to impregnate a fertile female. In humans it accounts for 40–50% of infertility. It affects approximately 7% of all men. Male infertility is commonly due to deficiencies in the semen, and semen quality is used as a surrogate measure of male fecundity. More recently, advance sperm analyses that examine intracellular sperm components are being developed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female infertility</span> Diminished or absent ability of a female to achieve conception

Female infertility refers to infertility in women. It affects an estimated 48 million women, with the highest prevalence of infertility affecting women in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa/Middle East, and Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Infertility is caused by many sources, including nutrition, diseases, and other malformations of the uterus. Infertility affects women from around the world, and the cultural and social stigma surrounding it varies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DAZ2</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Deleted in azoospermia protein 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the DAZ2 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BOLL</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

Protein boule-like is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BOLL gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Rossant</span> Biologist

Janet Rossant, is a developmental biologist well known for her contributions to the understanding of the role of genes in embryo development. She is a world renowned leader in developmental biology. Her current research interests focus on stem cells, molecular genetics, and developmental biology. Specifically, she uses cellular and genetic manipulation techniques to study how genes control both normal and abnormal development of early mouse embryos. Rossant has discovered information on embryo development, how multiple types of stem cells are established, and the mechanisms by which genes control development. In 1998, her work helped lead to the discovery of the trophoblast stem cell, which has assisted in showing how congenital anomalies in the heart, blood vessels, and placenta can occur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul J. Turek</span>

Dr. Paul J Turek is an American physician and surgeon, men's reproductive health specialist, and businessman. Turek is a recent recipient of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for research designed to help infertile men become fathers using stem cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spermatogonial stem cell</span> Spermatogonium that does not differentiate into a spermatocyte

A spermatogonial stem cell (SSC), also known as a type A spermatogonium, is a spermatogonium that does not differentiate into a spermatocyte, a precursor of sperm cells. Instead, they continue dividing into other spermatogonia or remain dormant to maintain a reserve of spermatogonia. Type B spermatogonia, on the other hand, differentiate into spermatocytes, which in turn undergo meiosis to eventually form mature sperm cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Globozoospermia</span> Medical condition

Globozoospermia is a rare and severe form of monomorphic teratozoospermia. This means that the spermatozoa show the same abnormality, and over 85% of spermatozoa in sperm have this abnormality. Globozoospermia is responsible for less than 0.1% of male infertility. It is characterised by round-headed spermatozoa without acrosomes, an abnormal nuclear membrane and midpiece defects. Affected males therefore suffer from either reduced fertility or infertility. Studies suggest that globozoospermia can be either total or partial, however it is unclear whether these two forms are variations on the same syndrome, or actually different syndromes.

Magdalena Żernicka-Goetz is a Polish-British developmental biologist. She is Professor of Mammalian Development and Stem Cell Biology in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. She also serves as Bren Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering at California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Nissim Benvenisty is Professor of Genetics, the Herbert Cohn Chair in Cancer Research and the Director of “The Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research” at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University.

References

  1. 1 2 3 EST, Newsweek Staff On 12/17/06 at 7:00 PM (2006-12-17). "Leading the Way". Newsweek. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  2. 1 2 "Stem cell researcher Renee Reijo Pera studies embryonic clock". Quanta Magazine. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  3. ↑ Reijo, R.; Alagappan, R. K.; Patrizio, P.; Page, D. C. (1996-05-11). "Severe oligozoospermia resulting from deletions of azoospermia factor gene on Y chromosome". Lancet. 347 (9011): 1290–1293. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(96)90938-1. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   8622504. S2CID   12728254.
  4. ↑ Writer, GAIL SCHONTZLER, Chronicle Staff. "MSU lands a star as new leader of research". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-03-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ "MSU's vice president of research taking on new role at Cal Poly". KBZK. 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  6. ↑ Regalado, Antonio. "Synthetic human reproduction could be a whole new way to make babies". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  7. ↑ Nudell, David; Castillo, Michael; Turek, Paul J.; Pera, Renee Reijo (2000-06-01). "Increased frequency of mutations in DNA from infertile men with meiotic arrest". Human Reproduction. 15 (6): 1289–1294. doi: 10.1093/humrep/15.6.1289 . ISSN   0268-1161. PMID   10831557.
  8. ↑ "Infertility and inheritance". The Economist. ISSN   0013-0613 . Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  9. 1 2 "'Provocative' Research Turns Skin Cells Into Sperm". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  10. ↑ Ramathal, Cyril; Durruthy-Durruthy, Jens; Sukhwani, Meena; Arakaki, Joy E.; Turek, Paul J.; Orwig, Kyle E.; Reijo Pera, Renee A. (May 1, 2014). "Fate of iPSCs Derived from Azoospermic and Fertile Men following Xenotransplantation to Murine Seminiferous Tubules". Cell Reports. 7 (4): 1284–1297. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2014.03.067. PMC   4283769 . PMID   24794432.
  11. ↑ "Science Is Getting Us Closer to the End of Infertility". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  12. ↑ "In the Race for Life, Which Human Embryos Make It?". KQED. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  13. ↑ Wong, Connie C.; Loewke, Kevin E.; Bossert, Nancy L.; Behr, Barry; De Jonge, Christopher J.; Baer, Thomas M.; Pera, Renee A. Reijo (2010-10-03). "Non-invasive imaging of human embryos before embryonic genome activation predicts development to the blastocyst stage". Nature Biotechnology. 28 (10): 1115–1121. doi:10.1038/nbt.1686. ISSN   1546-1696. PMID   20890283. S2CID   205274883.
  14. ↑ "Biotechnology: Pictures predict embryos' fate". Nature. 467 (7316): 636. October 2010. Bibcode:2010Natur.467Q.636.. doi: 10.1038/467636a . ISSN   1476-4687.
  15. 1 2 Park, Alice (2010-10-04). "A New Way to Predict IVF Success: Film the Embryo". Time. ISSN   0040-781X . Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  16. ↑ "The Viruses That Made Us Human". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  17. ↑ Grow, Edward J.; Flynn, Ryan A.; Chavez, Shawn L.; Bayless, Nicholas L.; Wossidlo, Mark; Wesche, Daniel J.; Martin, Lance; Ware, Carol B.; Blish, Catherine A.; Chang, Howard Y.; Reijo Pera, Renee A. (June 11, 2015). "Intrinsic retroviral reactivation in human preimplantation embryos and pluripotent cells". Nature. 522 (7555): 221–225. Bibcode:2015Natur.522..221G. doi:10.1038/nature14308. ISSN   0028-0836. PMC   4503379 . PMID   25896322.
  18. ↑ Zimmer, Carl (2015-04-23). "Ancient Viruses, Once Foes, May Now Serve as Friends". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  19. ↑ Durruthy-Durruthy, Jens; Sebastiano, Vittorio; Wossidlo, Mark; Cepeda, Diana; Cui, Jun; Grow, Edward J.; Davila, Jonathan; Mall, Moritz; Wong, Wing H.; Wysocka, Joanna; Au, Kin Fai (January 2016). "The primate-specific noncoding RNA HPAT5 regulates pluripotency during human preimplantation development and nuclear reprogramming". Nature Genetics. 48 (1): 44–52. doi:10.1038/ng.3449. ISSN   1546-1718. PMC   4827613 . PMID   26595768.
  20. ↑ staff, CNBC com (2018-05-22). "Progyny 2018 Disruptor 50". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
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