Gerald Schatten (born 1949) is an American stem cell researcher with interests in cell, developmental, and reproductive biology. He is Professor and vice-chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Professor of Cell Biology and of Bioengineering in the Schools of Medicine and Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is also Director of the Division of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine at the university's School of Medicine. Additionally, he is deputy director of the Magee-Women's Research Institute and Director of the Pittsburgh Development Center.. He is a member of the NCI-designated University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Early life and education
Schatten was born in 1949 in New York City and was educated in the public school system, including at Stuyvesant High School. He graduated with an A.B. in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971, where he also obtained his Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology.
Academic career
Schatten was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for 1976–1977 to conduct mentored research under the direction of Daniel Mazia at UC Berkeley. He was also awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at the German Cancer Research Center.
1976-1985 he was assistant professor, associate professor, Full Professor of Biological Sciences and Molecular Biophysics at Florida State University; while there, he received a National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award.
1985–1997 he was Professor of Zoology, Molecular Biology, Animal Science and Obstetrics-Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Here he was also director of the Integrated Microscopy Resource and Senior Scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center and at the Waisman Center for Human Development.
1997–2001 he was Professor and vice-chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Oregon Health & Science University and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology. He was also Research Director of OHSU's Center for Women's Health, as well as Director of Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center.
2001 – present he was Professor and vice-chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is also Director of the Division of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine at the School of Medicine. Additionally, he is deputy director of the Magee-Women's Research Institute and Director of the Pittsburgh Development Center.
Throughout his academic career, Schatten has also conducted research and taught at various other institutions. During 1985–1986, he was an instructor in Molecular Embryology of the Mouse at the Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory and a Resident Instructor of Embryology at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole. From 1986 to 1987, he held a visiting professorship at the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University.
Research
Schatten's research focuses on imaging, cell biology, cell motility, cell architecture, human and other primates assisted reproductive technology (ART), reproductive and cell aging, cloning, transgenesis, and stem cells. His research has been funded through the National Institutes of Health as well as the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the NASA.
Schatten's work has been published extensively in many journals, such as Science, Nature, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Nature Cell Biology, Journal of Cell Biology, Genetics, Development, Developmental Biology, Biology of Reproduction, Human Reproduction, and the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics.
Fertilization and reproduction
Schatten's work on fertilization examines the differential inheritance of cellular components contributed by the sperm and egg, respectively, as well as the program of oocyte activation and cell division during meiosis and mitosis. His group has demonstrated the importance of the sperm centrosome-centriole complex during mammalian fertilization (including humans), with the unexpected exception of rodents in which the centrosome is of maternal origin (see Selected Publications).