UCSF biologists Yuriy Kirichok and Polina Lishko have made a name for themselves recording the electrical currents that course through...sperm cells.
They uncovered how progesterone, a hormone involved in menstruation and embryo development , switches on a sperm's internal electricity. The electric current kicks sperm tails into overdrive, powering the final push toward the egg. Sperm that fail to heed progesterone's "get-up-and-go" signal could help explain some couples' struggles to conceive, say Kirichok and Lishko.
Last year, Lishko began using a technique called "whole-cell recording" to perform some of the world's first electrical recordings from human sperm -- a breakthrough that allowed the researchers to map out a key process in fertilization.
UCSF researchers perform first electrical recordings in human sperm By Helen Shen, San Jose Mercury.
