Teaching Faculty Prof. Engel Teaching Faculty Back to Main Menu Prof. Brunner Prof. Elsner Prof. Engel Prof. We are interested in the isolation, characterization and functional analysis of genes which are involved in the differentiation of male germ cells.
Functional analysis is studied in transgenic and knock-out mice.
The characterized genes could be candidate genes for male infertility. Furthermore, cryptorchid men have an increased risk for testicular tumors. We have isolated the Insl3 gene which is only expressed in testicular Leydig cells. Mice deficient for the Insl3 gene show bilateral, abdominal cryptorchidism. Therefore these mice can be used as a model system for the study of cryptorchidism in human and for the evaluation of downstream and upstream target genes in the gene cascade.