Check out a new research article co-written by Belmont resident Diana Chu, an assistant biology professor at San Francisco State University, in today’s edition of the journal Molecular and Cellular Proteomics.

If you remember, I wrote about Chu in July. She won a five-year grant of $655,000 from the National Science Foundation. The money will support her research on the role of proteins in sperm production.

Here’s part of a press release from SF State about her research article:

The article demonstrates how proteomics, a relatively new field focusing on the function of proteins in a cell, can be successfully applied to infertility, helping identify which proteins in sperm cells are dysfunctional.

“Up to 50 percent of male-factor infertility cases in the clinic have no known cause and therefore no direct treatment. In-depth study of the molecular basis of infertility has great potential to inform the development of sensitive diagnostic tools and effective therapies,” write co-authors Chu and Tammy Wu, a post-doctoral fellow at SF State.

The study is included in a special Oct. 10 issue of MCP dedicated to the clinical application of proteomics.

“We suggest how the study of proteins is useful in the clinic, to help people move from infertile to fertile and ultimately to help couples have a baby,” Chu said. “The ultimate goal is that a doctor would be able to say to a patient, ‘This is the protein that is misregulated in your sperm and this is the drug that corrects it or decreases the level of that protein.’ Understanding sperm proteins also means that a doctor could be able to inform patients of the likely success rates of different fertility therapies, an important factor given the high cost of fertility treatments.”

More than 2 million couples in the U.S. are facing infertility. While many scientific studies examine the supply of sperm, its mobility and its ability to fertilize, Chu argues that a wider array of sensitive tests, including studies of cell proteins, are needed to determine the root causes of male infertility.