Karina Gutierrez, BSc, MSc, PhD

Embryo development
Pigs are valuable animals for both agriculture and biomedical research. Our laboratory uses pigs as models to study proper embryo development. With the use of gene editing tools such as CRISP/Cas, we modulate genes to understand their roles in embryo development. Recently, our laboratory started to use non-human primates as models for embryo development and the generation of biomedical animal models.

Lipid metabolism
Porcine oocytes and embryos are characterized by high lipid content, which accounts for their markedly dark coloration. In addition to serve as energy source, lipids have other important functions on cell proliferation and differentiation, hormone production, and cell signaling. Our research goal is to understand the lipid metabolic regulation in porcine embryos. This will help replicate in vitro the metabolic changes necessary for proper embryo development, ultimately improving fertility and cryopreservation success.