SFB 1748:  Principles of Reproduction – Unravelling the Molecular Mechanisms of Male Infertility

• Subject Area: Medicine ; Biology
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 549467913

Infertility is on the rise, currently affecting more than 50 million couples worldwide – a prevalence similar to other common diseases such as diabetes. Hence, integrated research approaches investigating both the basic principles of reproduction and pathomechanisms of infertility are required. Fuelled by the DFG Clinical Research Unit ‘Male Germ Cells’ (CRU326) as well as the BMBF Junior Scientist Research Centre ‘ReproTrack.MS,’ and supported by the University of Münster, we set out to take male reproductive research as well as the diagnostics and care of male infertility to a whole new level. This Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) – composed of basic and clinical scientists of the University, University Hospital, and Max Planck Institute Münster as well as one collaborator from the RWTH Aachen – shall take this endeavour further and establish a beacon of excellence focused on Unravelling the Molecular Mechanisms of Male Infertility. The central objective of the CRC is, thus, to elucidate the genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms governing the formation and function of the testis, production and function of sperm, fertilisation, as well as early embryonic development – in both health and disease. To this end, we combine interdisciplinary research in molecular, structural, and cell biology as well as physiology, epi /genetics, (bio)informatics, and multimodal data analysis. The major focus is on humans, capitalising on the close interconnection of medicine, clinical science, and basic science in Münster. This unique setting enables projects on well-characterised human material, particularly from male patients suffering from infertility and related disorders, and promotes complementary projects on selected mammalian and non-mammalian model organisms, with both lines of research informing and advancing each other. Finally, pivotal central projects that interface clinics with science, generate and analyse genomic data, manage scientific and medical data, and disseminate information on human reproduction and infertility to the scientific community as well as the general public maximise the CRC’s scientific, clinical, and social impact. Our mission is to Spur the Translation of Basic Knowledge into the Clinic to enable early diagnosis of male infertility as well as comorbidities, increase the fraction of evidence-based treatment decisions for medically assisted reproduction, and, thereby, improve the clinical care of infertile couples.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Current projects

• A01 - Epigenetic mechanisms in the physiological development and malignant transformation of primordial germ cells (Project Head Kerl, Kornelius )
• A02 - Biochemical properties of the seminiferous tubule extracellular matrix (Project Heads Eble, Johannes Andreas ;  Schlatt, Stefan )
• A03 - Functional genetics in male congenital malformations (Project Heads Busch, Ph.D., Alexander S. ;  Ziller, Michael J. )
• A04 - Testis channelopathies (Project Heads Seebohm, Guiscard ;  Spehr, Marc )
• A05 - Spatial sensing of spermatogonial stem cells: cues for cell (dys)function (Project Heads Neuhaus, Nina ;  Wickström, Sara A. )
• A06 - Characterisation of the zygotene cilium in human spermatogenesis (Project Heads Friedrich, Corinna ;  Wallmeier, Julia )
• A07 - The genomic landscape of non-obstructive azoospermia (Project Head Tüttelmann, Frank )
• B01 - Sperm flagella dysfunction related to defects of inner dynein arms and associated structures (Project Head Raidt, Johanna )
• B02 - Deciphering the role of adenylate kinases and microtubule inner proteins in male fertility (Project Head Omran, Heymut )
• B03 - Molecular mechanisms of calcium signalling in human sperm (Project Heads Brenker, Christoph ;  Strünker, Timo )
• B04 - In situ structural analysis of the human CatSper-channel complex (Project Head Gatsogiannis, Christos )
• B05 - The role of the MHC for fertilisation and infertility from a fish perspective (Project Heads Kurtz, Joachim ;  Peuß, Robert )
• B06 - Epigenetic regulation of early embryonic development (Project Head Bedzhov, Ivan )
• INF - Research data infrastructure for multi-modal analyses (Project Heads Heider, Dominik ;  Storck, Michael ;  Vogl, Raimund )
• RTG - Integrated Research Training Group (RTG.MS) ‘Reproduction.MS training centre in translational science’ (Project Heads Neuhaus, Nina ;  Strünker, Timo )
• SCWIKO - Science Communication (Project Heads Beumer, Cristin ;  Schieb, Carla )
• Z01 - Central coordination (Project Head Tüttelmann, Frank )
• Z02 - Science-clinics interface (Project Heads Kliesch, Sabine ;  Omran, Heymut ;  Risse, Benjamin ;  Schubert, Maria )
• Z03 - GenOMICs (Project Heads Heider, Dominik ;  Stoll, Monika ;  Tüttelmann, Frank )

• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Participating University: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen; Institut für Biologie II (Zoologie)
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Biomedizin; Zell- und Gewebedynamik
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Frank Tüttelmann