Paul M. Wassarman Explained

Paul Michael Wassarman (born March 26, 1940) is an American biologist who has been Professor in the Dept. of Cell, Developmental, and Regenerative Biology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai since 1996 (Chairman 2000-2007). His laboratory identified and characterised proteins that make up the zona pellucida (ZP) of mammalian eggs and determined their role in fertilisation.

Education

He earned his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Massachusetts, a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Brandeis University (1963–1967; Advisor, N.O.Kaplan), and was a postdoctoral fellow at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, England (1967–1970; Sponsor, J.C.Kendrew).

Career

He was a faculty member in the Dept. of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School (1972–1986) and in the Dept. of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology (1986–1996; Chairman 1987-1992) before joining the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Academic work

His main research contributions lie in the areas of mammalian oogenesis and fertilization, particularly on the structure and function of the egg's ZP. His laboratory identified and characterised proteins that make up the ZP,^{[1] [2]} identified growing oocytes as the site of synthesis of ZP proteins,^{[3] [4]} demonstrated that two ZP proteins serve as sperm receptors during fertilization and are inactive following fertilization,^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]} identified regions of ZP polypeptides involved in ZP protein secretion and assembly,^{[10] [11] [12]} and proposed a structure for fibrils that constitute the ZP^{[13] [14] [15]}

He edited six volumes of Methods in Enzymology and four volumes of Current Topics in Developmental Biology, was series editor of Advances in Developmental Biology/Biochemistry, has been series editor of Current Topics in Developmental Biology since 2007, and authored "A Guide to Zona Pellucida Domain Proteins" (Wiley, 2015) and "A Place in History: the Biography of John C. Kendrew" (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Awards and honors

He was an NIH predoctoral fellow, Helen Hay Whitney Foundation postdoctoral fellow, Rockefeller Foundation special research fellow, and Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professorial Chair. He has been an advisor to NIH, NSF, ERC, NSC, WHO, Wellcome Trust, Schering AG, and Hoffmann-La Roche and delivered the Helen Mangelsdorph, M.C. Chang, James E. Leatham, Ernst Schering, Alan S. Parkes, and Luigi Mastroianni memorial lectures.

Notes and References

1. Bleil. JD. Wassarman. PM. Structure and function of the zona pellucida: identification and characterization of the proteins of the mouse oocyte's zona pellucida. Dev Biol. 1980. 76. 1. 185–202. 10.1016/0012-1606(80)90371-1. 7380091.
2. Wassarman. PM. Zona pellucida glycoproteins. Annu Rev Biochem. 1988. 57. 415–42. 10.1146/annurev.bi.57.070188.002215. 3052278.
3. Bleil. JD. Wassarman. PM. Synthesis of zona pellucida proteins by denuded and follicle-enclosed mouse oocytes during culture in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980. 77. 2. 1029–33. 10.1073/pnas.77.2.1029. 6928658. 348417. 1980PNAS...77.1029B. free.
4. Lira. SA. Kinloch. RA. Mortillo. S. Wassarman. PM. An upstream region of the mouse ZP3 gene directs expression of firefly luciferase specifically to growing oocytes in transgenic mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990. 87. 18. 7215–9. 10.1073/pnas.87.18.7215. 2402504. 54714. 1990PNAS...87.7215L. free.
5. Bleil. JD. Wassarman. PM. Mammalian sperm-egg interaction: identification of a glycoprotein in mouse egg zonae pellucidae possessing receptor activity for sperm. Cell. 1980. 20. 3. 873–82. 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90334-7. 7418009. 29105880.
6. Wassarman. PM. Bleil. JD. Florman. HM. Greve. JM. Roller. RJM. Salzmann. GS. Samuels. FG. The mouse egg's receptor for sperm: what is it and how does it work?. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1985. 50. 11–9. 10.1101/sqb.1985.050.01.004. 3006984.
7. Bleil. JD. Greve. JM. Wassarman. PM. Identification of a secondary sperm receptor in the mouse egg zona pellucida: role in maintenance of binding of acrosome-reacted sperm to eggs. Dev Biol. 1988. 128. 2. 376–85. 10.1016/0012-1606(88)90299-0. 3396765.
8. Wassarman. PM. Mammalian fertilization: molecular aspects of gamete adhesion, exocytosis, and fusion. Cell. 1999. 96. 2. 175–83. 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80558-9. 9988213. 7115833. free.
9. Wassarman. PM. Jovine. L. Litscher. ES. A profile of fertilization in mammals. Nat Cell Biol. 2001. 3. 2. E59–E64. 10.1038/35055178. 11175768. 6172791.
10. Jovine. L. Qi. H. Williams. Z. Litscher. E. Wassarman. PM. The ZP domain is a conserved module for polymerization of extracellular proteins. Nat Cell Biol. 2002. 4. 6. 457–61. 10.1038/ncb802. 12021773. 11575790.
11. Jovine. L. Qi. H. Williams. Z. Litscher. E. Wassarman. PM. A duplicated motif controls assembly of zona pellucida domain proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004. 101. 16. 5922–7. 10.1073/pnas.0401600101. 15079052. 395899. 2004PNAS..101.5922J. free.
12. Jovine. L. Darie. CC. Litscher. E. Wassarman. PM. Zona pellucida domain proteins. Annu Rev Biochem. 2005. 74. 83–114. 10.1146/annurev.biochem.74.082803.133039. 15952882.
13. Greve. JM. Wassarman. PM. Mouse egg extracellular coat is a matrix of interconnected filaments possessing a structural repeat. J Mol Biol. 1985. 181. 2. 253–64. 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90089-0. 3845123.
14. Wassarman. PM. Fertilization in mammals. Sci Am. 1988. 259. 6. 78–84. 10.1038/scientificamerican1288-78. 2849808. 1988SciAm.259f..78W.
15. Litscher. ES. Wassarman. PM. Zona Pellucida Proteins, Fibrils, and Matrix. Annu Rev Biochem. 2020. 89. 695–715. 10.1146/annurev-biochem-011520-105310. 32569527. 219987743.