James J. Fabrizio, PhD

Dr. Fabrizio’s lab seeks to uncover genes involved in the late-stage maturation of spermatozoa in Drosophila. Specifically, since sperm in all animal species occurs within a common cytoplasm, all animals have to resolve individual sperm from this cytoplasm in a process known as spermatid individualization. Indeed, a failure to individualize sperm is the predominant cause of male infertility in humans. Given the genetic similarity (65-70 percent) between Drosophila and humans, we hope our work will shed some light on the molecular mechanisms behind human male fertility.

Dr. Fabrizio received a National Institutes of Health grant for $200,000 as principal investigator. He will be incorporating methods and knowledge of genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, and genomics to study sperm development in the fruit fly, or Drosophila melanogaster.

Courses

• BIOL 111 General Biology
• BIOL 217 Genetics
• BIOL 302 Developmental Biology
• BIOL 310/410 Research in Biology
• BIOL 321 Molecular Biology
• BIOL 331 Cell Biology
• NSCI 301 Astronomy

Publications

Fabrizio J.J., Rollins J, Bazinet CW, Wegener S, Koziy I, Daniel R, Lombardo V, Pryce D, Bharrat K, Innabi E, Villanobos M, Mendoza G, Ferrara E, Rodway S, Vicioso M, Siracusa V, Dailey E, Pronovost J, Innabi S, Patel V, DeSouza N, Quaranto D, Niknejad A.(2020). Tubulin-binding cofactor E-like (TBCEL), the protein product of the mulet gene, is required in the germline for the regulation of inter-flagellar microtubule dynamics during spermatid individualization. Biol Open. Feb 26; 9(2). pii: bio049080. doi: 10.1242/bio.049080. https://bio.biologists.org/content/9/2/bio049080.long

Fabrizio, J.J. (2020) First person interview (Published alongside Fabrizio et al., 2020, above) Biology Open 2020 9: bio051151 doi: 10.1242/bio.051151 Published 26 February 2020 https://bio.biologists.org/content/9/2/bio051151

Fabrizio, J.J. (2017) Fruit flies help scientists seek treatment for male infertility.  Research Features, Sept 2017, http://researchfeatures.com/2017/09/18/fruit-flies-male-infertility/

Fabrizio, J.J., Aqeel, N. Cote^, J., Estevez, J., Jongoy, M., Mangal, V., Tema, W., Rivera, A., Wnukowski, J., Bencosme, Y. (2012) mulet (mlt) encodes a tubulin-binding cofactor E-like homolog required for spermatid individualization in Drosophila melanogaster. . Fly 6:261-272. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/fly.21533

Fabrizio, J.J., Hickey, C.A., Stabrawa, C.T., Meytes, V., Jessica A. Hutter, J.A, Talbert, C. and Regis, N. (2007). Imp (IGF-II mRNA-binding protein) is expressed during spermatogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster.  Fly 2:1, 47-52. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.4161/fly.5659

Fabrizio, J.J., Boyle, M., and DiNardo, S. (2003). A somatic role for eyes absent (eya) and sine oculis (so) in Drosophila spermatocyte development.  Dev. Biol. 258: 117-128. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012160603001271?via%3Dihub

Fabrizio, J.J., Hime, G., Lemmon, S.K., and Bazinet, C.W. (1998). Genetic dissection of sperm individualization in Drosophila melanogaster.  Development 125: 1833-1843. https://dev.biologists.org/content/125/10/1833.long