Biography: Noritaka Hirohashi is a PI at Shimane Univ. in Japan studying animal reproduction and sexual selection. He has been studying sperm acrosome reaction in sea urchins and mice. Currently, his focus is on squid biology, particularly exploring the evolution of sperm traits that are closely linked to male mating behaviors.

Biography: Polina V. Lishko, Ph.D., is a BJC Investigator and Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology at WashU School of Medicine. She earned her Ph.D. in Biophysics from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 2000, where she studied the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration and memory. Dr. Lishko completed her postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and Harvard University. There, she investigated the molecular mechanisms of vision in the lab of Dr. Arshavsky and later worked with Dr. Gaudet on the structure and function of mammalian TRPV channels—key sensors of pain and temperature. Her work led to the first structural description of the TRPV1 ankyrin repeat domain, shedding light on the channel’s regulatory mechanisms.From 2006 to 2011, Dr. Lishko was a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, where she studied ion channels and transporters such as CatSper, Hv1, and UCP1, elucidating their roles in reproduction and thermogenesis. Her discoveries during this period revealed critical regulatory pathways for mammalian fertility.In 2012, she joined the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, as an Assistant Professor. There, she led pioneering research on sperm motility, fertility, contraception, and ovarian aging. After earning tenure, she expanded her work to encompass age-related disorders, including neurodegeneration and vision loss. Dr. Lishko joined WashU Medicine in 2023, where she continues to investigate ion channels at the intersection of reproduction, aging, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Biography: Eduardo Roldan is a Research Professor at the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), head of the Reproductive Biology and Evolution Group, and the director of the Germplasm and Somatic Tissue Bank of wildlife and endangered species at the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC) in Madrid. Professor Roldan holds degrees in veterinary medicine (DVM), natural sciences (PhD) and philosophy (BA). Was postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu (USA) and the AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research, Cambridge (UK). He subsequently served as Senior Research Scientist at The Babraham Institute, Cambridge (UK), and as Professor and Head of the Division of Reproduction and Development at The Royal Veterinary College in London (UK). In Spain, he held senior research positions at the Department of Animal Reproduction (INIA), Madrid, and at the Institute of Biochemistry (CSIC-University Complutense), Madrid. He later joined CSIC, where he progressed through its senior scientific ranks—from Research Scientist to Senior Research Scientist and ultimately to Research Professor. He has received numerous prestigious recognitions, including awards from the People's Republic of China, the Wolfson Research Merit Award from The Royal Society of London, the University of Buenos Aires 200th Anniversary Medal and a doctor honoris causa degree from the University of Buenos Aires. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Veterinary Sciences of Spain. Professor Roldan has contributed extensively to reproductive biology, having served on the Editorial Board of Reproduction, and currently as Associate Editor for Molecular Reproduction and Development, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, Theriogenology Wild, and Scientific Reports. He leads an internationally recognized research program focused on the molecular and cellular biology of sperm formation and function, evolution of reproductive traits and genes in mammals, and the development of assisted reproductive techniques for wildlife and endangered species.

Biography: Irem is an evolutionary biologist interested in reproductive ageing, nongenetic parental effects, sexual selection, and life-history theory. Her postdoctoral research examined an overlooked aspect of male reproductive ageing: the decline in ejaculate performance with age. Now a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow at the University of Oxford, she investigates how paternal age and diet affect offspring fitness. Using fruit flies, her group aims to reveal the ejaculate-mediated mechanisms linking paternal condition to offspring outcomes.

Biography: Professor Gerhard van der Horst is an internationally recognized reproductive biologist and physiologist. A founding member of the Reproductive Biology Society of South Africa (1984), he has played a leading role in advancing reproductive science both nationally and globally. In the 1990s, he co-developed and marketed the sperm motility analysis program SMQ, which became widely used in the study of sperm function.He has served two terms as President of the Physiology Society of Southern Africa and chaired the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) in South Africa, representing the country at the 1997 IUPS meeting in St Petersburg. He later convened and chaired the 9th International Symposium on Spermatology, held in Cape Town in 2002.Professor van der Horst has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, contributed to four book chapters, and presented over 250 conference papers worldwide. He is the only person to have twice received the Senior Research Award from the University of the Western Cape and has been honored with the Ernst Oppenheimer Memorial Travel Award. Over the past fifteen years, he has presented research and workshops in 45 countries and supervised more than 50 MSc and PhD students.He serves as Senior Consultant to Microptic SL in Barcelona, contributing to the development of Computer-Aided Sperm Analysis, and as Research Associate at the National Zoological Gardens (SANBI) in Pretoria. He holds honorary professorships in Physiology and Animal Physiology at the University of Stellenbosch and serves as Associate Editor for Reproduction in Domestic Animals and the International Polish Andrology Journal.Renowned for his expertise in comparative spermatology, Professor van der Horst has studied sperm from over 100 species, from invertebrates such as sea urchins to vertebrates including fish, mammals, and humans, making significant contributions to our understanding of reproductive biology.

Biography: Tzviya Zeev-Ben-Mordehai is an associate professor at Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research of Utrecht University in the Netherlands.An expert in cellular structural biology of mammalian gametes. Zeev-Ben-Mordehai received her PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2008. In 2015 she established her group in the Division of Structural Biology of Oxford University. Since 2017 her group is part of Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research of Utrecht University. Her group combines biochemistry, biophysics, and advanced cryo-electron microscopy to unravel the molecular basis of fertilization. Among the group achievements are the first in-cell structures of mammalian sperm flagella (EMBO J 2021 PMID 33694216), structure of conserved protein arrays that tether mitochondria to the underlying cytoskeleton (PNAS 2021 PMID 34737233). By developing a cryo-electron microscopy single-particle-analysis approach that allows resolving atomic resolution structures of multi-protein complexes without isolating them from the cell, the group resolved the native axonemal doublet microtubules structure from sperm (Cell 2023 PMID 37327785, Nature 2025 PMID 39743588).