Ricardo Bertolla
Academic Rank
Associate Professor
Office Address
C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Wayne State University, School of Medicine
275 East Hancock
Detroit, MI 48201
Biography
Ricardo Bertolla received his DVM from the Sao Paulo University, in Brazil, after which he received a PhD in Urology at the Paulista Medical School of the Sao Paulo Federal University, in Brazil. Dr. Bertolla was professor at the Department of Urology at the Sao Paulo Federal University, where he graduated multiple Master’s and PhD Students and advanced his research in molecular and cellular aspects of human male infertility. Dr. Bertolla has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles, exploring themes such as sperm DNA fragmentation, mitochondrial activity, acrosome integrity, and semen oxidative stress, as well as sperm and seminal plasma proteomics and lipidomics, as these are affected by male infertility-associated conditions, such as varicocele, obesity, smoking, spinal cord injuries, and others. Dr. Bertolla was also director of the Andrology Laboratory at the Sao Paulo Federal University, and accumulated multiple administrative positions, from graduate program chair for the Department of Urology to Associate Vice-president of Research and Graduate Studies. At Wayne State University, Dr. Bertolla has established a CLIA-certified laboratory for advanced analysis of male infertility, and is relocating his research to continue his pursuit of understanding cellular and molecular aspects of male infertility.
Among the main contributions from Dr. Bertolla’s lab are the understanding that varicocele - a vascular alteration that affects adolescents and adult men - may alter fertile potential even when conventional semen analysis does not demonstrate any alteration. Moreover, Dr. Bertolla’s research has advanced understanding of the molecular aspects of semen, and how aggressors to male fertility may shift networks towards inflammatory profiles. Dr. Bertolla’s lab has also suggested many proteins as markers of fertility, and has demonstrated specific sperm-bound proteins (such as ELSPBP1) may be used to actively remove altered sperm from the ejaculate.