Health Sciences Center
Hospital and Clinic
Primate Center
Public Health
Tropical Medicine

Assistant Professor
Ph.D.: University of Guelph
Postdoctoral: University of Missouri

Embryology in non-human primates:
Our primary interest is in assisted reproductive techniques (ART) in non-human primates. During the past breeding seasons we have established a program that has resulted in the birth of a number of rhesus monkey infants that were generated by in vitro fertilization. One of our interests currently is to use pigtail macaques as recipients of rhesus macaque embryos. Rhesus females have a defined breeding season which results in births generally occurring around April. In contrast pigtails breed year round and would, therefore, make much more convenient surrogates. To date we have had one rhesus baby birth from a heterospecific embryo transfer into a pigtail female.

We are also developing a number of techniques that we will be able to apply to the propagation of rare genotypes. One of these is pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which would facilitate genetic screening of the embryos. This would enable us to propagate rare and desirable genotypes with greater accuracy and frequency. We have also recently begun to investigate methods of germline modification of rhesus monkeys by virus-mediated gene transfer.

Identification of markers of developmental competence in pre-implantation embryos:
Another area of interest is the question of whether there are embryo-derived markers of developmental competence that would be useful in predicting an embryo’s likelihood of giving rise to a pregnancy after transfer into a recipient Presently we are studying such a potential role for interferon-tau, a secretory protein produced by bovine embryos. This interferon appears to be the primary means of communication between embryo and its mother. One of the most striking observations is the large variability in the amount of interferon-tau that is produced by individual embryos. It is yet unclear if this variation is indicative of any inherent qualitative differences. What argues for such a role is the fact that faster developing embryos, which have been shownn to be superior, produce significantly less interferon-tau during their initial 48 hours of culture than embryos that form later in culture. Presently we are concentrating on assessing the effects of a number of parameters, such as sex, in vitro culture conditions and genetic background on interferon- secretion.

Recent Publications:

A PubMed listing of research publications for Hans Michael Kubisch, Ph.D.

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