Evolutionary and reproductive biology

Mechanisms of fertilization have been under intensive study for over a century. However, fertilization is still one of the most enigmatic biological processes, which has severely restricted our understanding of reproduction, evolution and beginning of life. It has traditionally been assumed that fertilization is a completely unbiased process, leading to random fusion of gametes, which is also a key foundation of modern genetics. Against this assumption, recent findings have indicated that gametes often combine non-randomly, which bias fertilization towards particular, often genetically compatible reproductive partners. Our research group aims to clarify the molecular basis of fertilization and reproductive compatibility and this way pave the way towards deeper mechanistic understanding of reproduction and sexual selection. We also aim to develop biologically more realistic definition for the causes of reproductive failures (infertility) in humans.