Victor D. Vacquier

I spent 35 years studying the biochemistry of fertilization in sea urchins, abalone and oysters. The major interests of my lab were in the proteins that mediate sperm adhesion to eggs, and sperm and egg metabolic activation. My lab also worked on the evolution of gamete recognition proteins in these three groups of marine invertebrates and showed that these proteins evolve rapidly, many times by way of positive selection. I am fortunate to be a member of the Hamdoun Lab where I am currently working on parthenogenesis in sea urchins as well as sea urchin sperm cryopreservation.

Contact: vvacquier@ucsd.edu