Dr. Ward received MS and PhD degrees from the University of Poznan, Poland. In 1999 she was recruited to join Ryuzo Yanagimachi (Yana) laboratory at the Institute for Biogenesis Research (IBR), John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), University in Hawaii, as a post-doctoral fellow. She established her independent laboratory in the IBR in 2003 and rose through the ranks obtaining a professor position in 2015.
Dr. Ward has been working in the field of reproductive and developmental biology and genetics of male infertility for almost 30 years. Her research focus is on spermatogenesis, male fertility/infertility, and assisted reproduction technologies. In recent years her primary interest has been on the genetic aspects of male fertility, and particularly on the role on Y chromosome encoded genes in spermatogenesis and sperm function. The findings from her laboratory highlighted the functions of mouse Y genes in meiotic progression, sperm formation, and post-meiotic chromatin remodeling. Her group also identified the minimum Y chromosome complement necessary for successful assisted reproduction and has shown that the function of these 'minimal' genes can be replaced by genetic manipulation of genes encoded on other chromosomes. Other research interests of Dr. Ward and her lab include relationship between sperm chromatin integrity and male fertility, importance of sperm epigenome for fertilization and embryo development, and technological advances regarding gametes and embryos such as in vitro gametogenesis, development of gametes from non-germinal cells, and development of new mouse models enabling studies of spermatogenesis.
Complete List of Published Work can be found My Bibliography: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/monika.ward.1/bibliography/public/
Selected Key and Recent Publications:
Yasuhiro Yamauchi, Jonathan M. Riel, Zoia Stoytcheva, Paul S. Burgoyne, Monika A. Ward (2010): Deficiency in mouse Y chromosome long arm gene complement is associated with sperm DNA damage. Genome Biology. 2010;11(6):R66
Yasuhiro Yamauchi, Jonathan M. Riel, Zoia Stoytcheva, Monika A. Ward (2013): Two Y chromosome genes can replace the entire Y chromosome for assisted reproduction in the mouse. Science. 2014 Jan 3;343(6166):69-72.
Yasuhiro Yamauchi, Jonathan M Riel, Victor Ruthig, Monika A Ward (2015): Mouse Y-encoded transcription factor Zfy2 is essential for sperm formation and function in assisted fertilization. PLoS Genetics. 2015 Dec 31;11(12):e1005476.
Yasuhiro Yamauchi, Jonathan M Riel, Victor Ruthig, Egle Ortega, Michael J. Mitchell, Monika A Ward (2015): Two genes substitute for the mouse Y chromosome for spermatogenesis and reproduction. Science. 2016 Jan 29;351(6272):514-6
Yasuhiro Yamauchi, Takafumi Matsumura, Jackson Bakse, Hayden Holmlund, Genevieve Blanchet, Emmaelle Carrot, Masahito Ikawa, Monika A. Ward (2022): Loss of mouse Y chromosome gene Zfy1 and Zfy2 leads to spermatogenesis impairment, sperm defects, and infertility. Biol Reprod. 2022 Mar 16:ioac057.
Hayden Holmlund, Yasuhiro Yamauchi, Gerald Durango, Wataru Fujii, Monika A. Ward (2022): Two recently acquired mouse Y chromosome-linked genes, Prssly and Teyorf1, are dispensable for male fertility. Biol Reprod. Sep 12;107(3): 752-764.
