Cornell University has established the Center for Reproductive Genomics, which will combine basic research in reproductive sciences on Cornell's Ithaca campus with one of the country's leading fertility clinics at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) in New York City.
Infertility affects 10 to 15 percent of couples of childbearing age.
“This is an area of research that is important to people on a personal basis,” said Cornell Vice Provost for Life Sciences Stephen Kresovich. “The great capabilities both at Ithaca and Weill Cornell to do this type of research make this center a natural fit for the university.”
The collaborative center will focus on the genetics of infertility, with specific emphasis on meiosis, the specialized cell division that results in recombination of genetic material and the production of sperm in the male throughout life and eggs in the female fetus, which then develop over 20-plus years.
The center now has about 15 faculty members from the two campuses engaged in collaborations. All consulted on or wrote a $5 million grant proposal recently submitted to the National Institutes of Health to help fund the center.
“Ultimately, about 100 faculty members from both campuses will be part of the
center, which is unique for its distinct focus on genetic mechanisms,” said Paula Cohen, the center's director and an assistant professor of genetics in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. “We can now look at how reproductive performance is genetically determined.”
The center will target both human and animal health. Observations of the role of genetics in infertile human patients from WCMC can now be studied further through animal models at the Ithaca campus. For animals, fertility studies will help with everything from wildlife conservation to breeding cattle and horses.
“This is an example of a collaborative translational research process that brings together the best of a world-renowned clinical research program in male and female infertility with strong basic research from Ithaca that is likely to grow beyond the sum of its individual parts through its synergistic opportunities,” said Peter Schlegel, chairman of urology at WCMC and urologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Schlegel has led efforts at WCMC to establish the center.