Research Interests
Cell Adhesion Molecules, Connective Tissue, Membrane contact sites
Research Focus Teams
Cancer, COVID-19, Fertility
Departments
Cellular & Physiological Sciences
Contact
Email: wayne.vogl@ubc.ca
Office Phone: phone: 604–822–2359
Publications
Lab Website
Dr. Wayne Vogl obtained his Ph.D. in Zoology at UBC in 1979 and was a Research Fellow at the Harvard Medical School from 1979-1981. He was appointed Assistant Professor at UBC in 1981, and rose through the ranks to become Professor in 1992.
He is a member of the American Association for Anatomy, the American Society for Cell Biology, and the Society for the Study of Reproduction. He was appointed Fellow of the American Association for Anatomy in 2009.
His major research field is the cell biology of the seminiferous epithelium. His students and he explore the interrelationship between the cytoskeleton and intercellular junctions in the testis, and the role of this relationship in generating major morphogenic events such as sperm release and the translocation of spermatogenic cells through the blood-testis barrier. His work relates to the clinical fields of male fertility and fertility control.
Dr. Vogl has authored over 150 research articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has lectured in Gross Anatomy since his appointment at UBC, and directed the Gross Anatomy program at UBC from 1992 to 2002 and from 2004 to 2008.
He received the Teaching Excellence Award seven times from the UBC Medical Undergraduate Society, the Basmajian/Williams and Wilkins Award from the American Association for Anatomy in 1988, the University Teaching Prize from the University of British Columbia in 1992, the Killam Teaching Prize in 2006, the J.C.B. Grant Senior Scientist Award from the Canadian Association for Anatomy, Neuroanatomy and Cell Biology in 2006, and the Henry Gray Scientific Achievement Award from the American Association for Anatomy in 2022.
Dr. Vogl is a co-author of “Gray’s Anatomy for Students”, Gray’s Atlas of Anatomy, Dorland’s Gray’s Pocket Atlas of Anatomy, and Gray’s Anatomy for Student’s Flash Cards.
In my laboratory we are interested in the interaction between intercellular junctions and the cytoskeleton in cells within the context of tissues, and in determining how the two systems function together to generate complex remodeling events in epithelia. We use the seminiferous epithelium of the mammalian testis as an ideal model system for our studies because intercellular junctions are large, easy to visualize, and can be readily isolated. Moreover, all three major elements of the cytoskeleton (actin filaments, intermediate filaments and microtubules) are abundant and associated with junctions. Importantly, junctions and elements of the cytoskeleton together are associated with major epithelial remodeling events, such as sperm release, turnover of the blood-testis barrier, and the translocation of developing sperm cells, that occur during spermatogenesis.
We make extensive use of imaging techniques (electron microscopy, conventional fluorescence microscopy, and confocal microscopy) in our research.
We currently are exploring two major hypotheses:
(1) changes in position of spermatids in the seminiferous epithelium are due to the microtubule-based transport of specialized actin-associated adherens junctions that occur in Sertoli cell regions attached to developing spermatid heads;(2) actin-related tubular membrane structures, termed tubulobulbar complexes, that develop during junction disassembly in the seminiferous epithelium are sub-cellular machines responsible for internalizing intact junctions during sperm release and turnover of the blood-testis barrier.