Researching Effects of COVID-19 on Male Fertility

 Jessica Marchetti, Verrazzano Class of 2022, completed major in Psychology and minor in Biology

During my junior year, I did not anticipate that I would graduate a semester early. The COVID-19 pandemic affected students at CSI in multiple ways. I was extremely bored being at home during this time and I took it as an opportunity to take more summer and winter classes, as well as packing my fall and spring schedules. This enabled me to complete my undergraduate degree a semester early, but it also meant I would have to prepare for my capstone, which I had no clue where to even begin.

The capstone project seemed like an intimidating task to tackle, and I felt at a slight disadvantage since I was not prepared to focus or plan for it so early. When I began my internship at Weill Cornell Hospital, I discovered what I wanted my project to focus on. I shadowed Dr. Gianpiero Palermo in the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Center, and developed a passion for the lab work and research that correlated to factors that impacted male fertility, and the solutions available to provide infertile couples with the opportunity to reproduce. Dr. Palermo also the invented the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), which is a common fertility treatment used across the world.

We began a research project that provided a possible explanation to the question of COVID-19 impacting male sperm cells regarding their motility and shape, since there is still so much unknown about this aggressive and contagious virus. We were able to gather participants who were already patients in the center to participate, and investigated the semen parameters to see if there were major effects that the virus had on sperm cells. Ultimately, we discovered that the virus had no long-term effects on sperm cells.

Some limitations of our study included the sample population, since it was small and only from Weill Cornell. In the future, we could expand our parameters and have participants in other areas with a wider age range.

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to shadow and work among such brilliant doctors and students, and appreciate the chance to share my findings with my fellow Verrazzano students.