He's looked at several factors that affect the movement in a process called hyperactivation. During the last year, Tash trained in collaboration with scientists from NASA and the European Space Agency in the performance of his experiments in space. He'll monitor their experiments from the ground and perform the same experiments at John F. Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. This propels the sperm's travel to the egg. Tash uses the sperm of sea urchins in his experiments.
Sea urchins are small, spiny, marine creatures that look like pin cushions.
Despite the unusual source, sperm and sperm movement are universal in the animal kingdom, Tash says. Sea urchin sperm is used because there is less variation from one animal to another than there is among humans or other mammals. Sea urchin sperm can also survive pre-launch delays better than these other species. Space shuttle scientists will perform the experiments using a compact laboratory called the Biorack supplied by the European Space Agency. Tash is an associate professor of physiology and a member of the Smith Mental Retardation and Human Development Center and the Center for Reproductive Sciences at KU Medical Center.