WashU Medicine researchers Polina Lishko, PhD, and Celia Santi, MD, PhD, have been awarded a five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grant to support collaborative research focused on defining mechanisms important for regulating male fertility. The award recognizes the investigators’ longstanding leadership in reproductive physiology and translational fertility research. The R01 grant project titled “Temperature and Polyamines: Their Roles in CatSper Regulation and Sperm Fertility” started on May 15, 2026, and is administered by the NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
“Together, the Lishko and Santi laboratories bring complementary expertise to the study of the male and female reproductive tracts,” said Dr. Celia Santi, James P. Crane Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology in the Center for Reproductive Health Sciences at WashU Medicine. “This funding empowers our continued research into better comprehending how sperm ion channels influence fertilization and reproductive outcomes.”
Dr. Polina Lishko, Professor of Cell Biology & Physiology at WashU Medicine and BJC Investigator, said, “This research project has the potential to improve diagnostics for infertility and identify targets for next-generation sperm-targeted contraception. I look forward to testing our central hypothesis and revealing our findings about factors affecting the sperm-specific calcium channel CatSper.”
The work supported by this award builds on years of discovery from both laboratories, including studies of sperm-specific ion channels, progesterone signaling, membrane excitability, and nonhormonal contraceptives. These advances are helping reshape scientific understanding of fertility while opening new opportunities for translational applications in reproductive healthcare.
The NIH R01 mechanism is one of the agency’s most competitive and respected forms of research support, providing funding for innovative projects with strong potential to advance biomedical science and improve human health. This award underscores the growing impact of reproductive science research at WashU and highlights the institution’s commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration.