Education

Ph.D. in Molecular and Integrative Physiology; University of Kansas
B.S. in Biology; Villanova University

Research Interests

Dr. Hermann's laboratory studies the basic biology of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), which are adult-tissue stem cells responsible for sperm production in the mammalian testis and which are essential for male fertility. Ongoing studies in the lab are focused on 1) how the pool of SSCs forms during development; 2) determining how SSC fate is regulated; 3) how SCC loss due to chemotherapy can be prevented; and 4) how SCCs can be used to treat male infertility. The lab's work has potential implications for basic stem cell biology, reproduction, as well as translational significance for treatment and prevention of male infertility.

Training Opportunities

The Hermann Lab employs mice (including genetic models, Cre/lox, etc.) and nonhuman primate animal models and work with human testicular tissues. Approaches are multidisciplinary, including in vitro SSC culture, an in vivo SSC transplantation assay for SSCs, immunofluorescence, conventional and high-throughput molecular biology and genomic approaches, examinination of gene expression at the level of individual cells (e.g., single-cell RNA-seq) which allows investigation of heterogeneity among cells within a population, employment of bioinformatics strategies to explore these data.

Publications

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