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​Our Grantees

A person wearing a lab coat and blue gloves holds a flask containing blue liquid over a lab table with various glassware, petri dishes, and scientific equipment.
A woman with long, wavy gray hair, wearing a white sleeveless top, stands at a podium with microphones. The podium displays the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre logo. Two water bottles are placed beside her.
Patricia Cuasnicủ, PhD

$150,000 / 2 years
Awarded April 2018

Instituto de Biologia y Medicina Experimental (IBYME-CONICET)
Buenos Aires, Argentina

About

Dr. Cuasnicủ is a Senior Scientific Researcher from the National Research Council (CONICET) at Argentina’s Instituto de Biologia y Medicina Experimental (IBYME-CONICET) in Buenos Aires. Patricia has been working in the field of male contraception since 1984, and has been a leader in the field, serving with a World Health Organization Task Force, CONRAD, and other organizations.

A woman with long, wavy gray hair, wearing a white sleeveless top, stands at a podium with microphones. The podium displays the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre logo. Two water bottles are placed beside her.
Patricia Cuasnicủ, PhD

$150,000 / 2 years
Awarded April 2018

Instituto de Biologia y Medicina Experimental (IBYME-CONICET)
Buenos Aires, Argentina

About

Dr. Cuasnicủ is a Senior Scientific Researcher from the National Research Council (CONICET) at Argentina’s Instituto de Biologia y Medicina Experimental (IBYME-CONICET) in Buenos Aires. Patricia has been working in the field of male contraception since 1984, and has been a leader in the field, serving with a World Health Organization Task Force, CONRAD, and other organizations.

Our Grant

Male Contraceptive Initiative supports the Cuasnicủ lab and their studies of CRISP1 (Cysteine Rich Secretory Protein 1), which associates with sperm during maturation and is involved in gamete interaction through binding to egg-complementary sites. Their proposal sought to develop CRISP1 as a target for male contraception by searching for novel inhibitors of the complex that limit its function.

On the impact of male contraception, Dr. Cuasnicủ says: “I have been working in the field for almost 35 years and I am completely convinced that the development of more contraceptive options is crucial for avoiding the high number of women and child deaths all over the world.”

Blog Posts

A Conversation with MCI Grantee Dr. Patricia Cuasnicu

Publications

Busso, Dolores, Nadia M. Goldweic, Masaru Hayashi, Masanori Kasahara, and Patricia S. Cuasnicú. “Evidence for the Involvement of Testicular Protein CRISP2 in Mouse Sperm-Egg Fusion.” Biology of Reproduction 76, no. 4 (April 2007): 701–8. https://doi.org/10.1095/biolreprod.106.056770.

Cohen, Débora J., Dolores Busso, Vanina Da Ros, Diego A. Ellerman, Julieta A. Maldera, Nadia Goldweic, and Patricia S. Cuasnicu. “Participation of Cysteine-Rich Secretory Proteins (CRISP) in Mammalian Sperm-Egg Interaction.” The International Journal of Developmental Biology 52, no. 5–6 (2008): 737–42. https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.072538dc.

Busso, Dolores, Débora J. Cohen, Julieta A. Maldera, Andrea Dematteis, and Patricia S. Cuasnicu. “A Novel Function for CRISP1 in Rodent Fertilization: Involvement in Sperm-Zona Pellucida Interaction.” Biology of Reproduction 77, no. 5 (November 2007): 848–54. https://doi.org/10.1095/biolreprod.107.061788.

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