EMBO Member
Luca Jovine
EMBO 2018
Former EMBO Young Investigator (2010)
Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
Molecular basis of egg-sperm interaction
Fertilization is a fundamental step in the life cycle of all higher organisms: through species-restricted recognition and fusion of egg and sperm, a new individual is created. My group aims at unveiling the molecular basis of this essential biological problem by using structural biology to directly visualize the interface between gametes, with implications for human infertility and non-hormonal contraception.
Keywords
Structural biology / fertilization / egg-sperm interaction / gamete fusion / egg coat / zona pellucida module proteins / ZP domain / protein-protein interactions / protein polymerization