The focus of research in our laboratory is the study of sperm differentiation and function using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a genetic model system .. [more]

An introduction to C. elegans.

C. elegans researchers have been awarded two Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine this millennium: 2002 and 2006.

 For L'Hernault lab members

• Check out meeting schedules, lab job assignments and links

Left: The process of C. elegans sperm activation (spermiogenesis). In the top panel, a round spermatid begins to extend long, thin projections all around its periphery. Soon the projections become fewer, longer and congregated at one pole of the cell (second panel). Next, the projections begin to fuse and balloon out into a pseudopod (third panel). In the bottom panel is a fully mature spermatozoon, with knobby projections called filopodia extending from its pseudopod. The cell body (right half of the spermatozoon) is pock-marked with pores, resulting from the fusion of membranous organelles to the plasma membrane. (Description by Paul Muhlrad; Scanning electron micrographs by Greg Nelson and Sam Ward.)