Janice Evans

Active Mentor - currently hosting PULSe students for laboratory rotations and recruiting PULSe students into the laboratory; serves on preliminary exam committees

Current Research Interests:

The Evans lab studies mammalian gamete biology, with a focus on how oocytes (egg cells) progress through meiosis and fertilization. This research has relevance not only to fundamental concepts in cell biology, but to the biology underlying reproductive success and failures, and the connections between fertility to overall health. Ongoing projects in the lab are addressing cell cycle regulatory processes at work during oocyte meiosis, and the functions of the cytoskeleton in various aspects of oocyte biology.

Selected Publications:

Evans, J.P., (2020). Preventing polyspermy in mammalian eggs - Contributions of the membrane block and other mechanisms. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 87:341-349. doi: 10.1002/mrd.23331

Camlin, N.J. and Evans, J.P. (2019) Auxin-inducible protein degradation as a novel approach for protein depletion and reverse genetic discoveries in mammalian oocytes. Biol. Reprod. 101:704-718. doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioz113

Mackenzie, A.C.L., Kyle, D.D., McGinnis, L.A., Lee, H.J., Aldana, N., Robinson, D.N., and Evans, J.P. (2016) Cortical mechanics and myosin-II abnormalities associated with post-ovulatory aging: Implications for functional defects in aged eggs. Mol. Human Reprod. 22, 397-409. doi: 10.1093/molehr/gaw019

McGinnis, L.A., Lee, H.J., Robinson, D.N., and Evans, J.P. (2015) MAPK3/1 (ERK1/2) and Myosin Light Chain Kinase in mammalian eggs affect myosin-II function and regulate the metaphase II state in a calcium- and zinc-dependent manner. Biol. Reprod. 92(6): 146, 1-14. doi: 10.1095/biolreprod.114.127027

Kryzak, C.A., Moraine, M.M., Kyle, D.D., Lee, H.J., Cubeñas-Potts, C., Robinson, D.N., and Evans, J.P. (2013) Prophase I mouse oocytes are deficient in the ability to respond to fertilization by decreasing membrane receptivity to sperm and establishing a membrane block to polyspermy. Biol. Reprod. 89(2): 44, 1-13. doi: 10.1095/biolreprod.113.110221

Larson, S.M., Lee, H.J., Hung, P., Matthews, L.M., Robinson, D.N., and Evans, J.P. (2010) Cortical mechanics and meiosis II completion in mammalian oocytes are mediated by myosin-II and ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) proteins. Mol. Biol. Cell 21, 3182-3192. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E10-01-0066