Lab Team

In my time in the LevBuck lab, I have assisted post-docs in their research on sperm motility and contributed to the efforts of the male contraceptive initiative. Currently, I am working on the phenotypic characterizations of the ADCY10 C2 KO mouse model. 

My project is to purify and elucidate the function of an endogenous inhibitor to soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC). As a potential small molecule, this endogenous inhibitor is present in cell lysate and is capable of fully inhibiting sAC activity. My long-term goals are to combine the mechanism-based drug knowledge I gained in Pharmacy School with the research expertise I will gain in Grad School to developing new & more effective drugs that produce fewer side effects.

My overall research goal is to better understand the molecular events leading to acquisition of fertilization competence in mammalian sperm, which could lead to development of male contraceptives and/or diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for male infertility. My project focuses on the regulation of capacitation by post-translational modifications such as lysine acetylation and sAC-dependent PKA phosphorylation.

My main research goal is to use a mouse model to study the localization and distribution of soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC) in sperm cells and somatic tissues as well as understanding isoform diversity and possible binding partners of this protein. 

In addition, I'm working in studying the safety and toxicity of sAC inhibitors and assisting in testing such inhibitors in mammalian animal models. For this project, I was awarded a fellowship from the Male Contraceptive Initiative (MCI). 

My overall research goal in the lab is to discover and characterize pharmacological and novel endogenous activators of soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC). In pursuit of this goal, I am currently using a high-throughput screening method designed to identify small-molecule activators of sAC.