EU funding to investigate collaborative behaviour of sperm
The postdoctoral fellowship, from the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, has awarded over €200 000 to the SPECO project (Evolution of sperm conjugates: does sperm competition drive the cooperative behaviour of sperm?). The funding will enable the hiring of a postdoctoral researcher from outside of Finland. Pärssinen will begin her research in spring 2026 in the research group of Associate Professor Jussi Lehtonen. She has previously worked at the University of Gothenburg.
- In this project, I’m investigating why the sperm of some animal species form larger conjugates. The formation of these groups appears to be a form of intercellular cooperation, in which dozens or hundreds of sperm work together to achieve a common goal. Various formations have been observed in some rodents, oxen, opossums and beetles, the postdoctoral researcher Varpu Pärssinen from the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ explains.
Cooperation increases effectiveness
The study focuses particularly on bush-crickets, in which long sperm groups consisting of hundreds of cells have been observed. The reasons behind this phenomenon have been largely unstudied until now.
- In my previous research on an Australian bush-cricket species, I found that the sperm conjugates form inside the female after mating. My research specifically tests whether these formations could be an adaptation to sperm competition between males, says Pärssinen.
Cooperation between sperm cells could have evolutionary advantages. If the sperm cells of a male group together, the group formation may increase their swimming speed, giving them an advantage in the competition with another male's sperm.
Further information:
- Postdoctoral Researcher Varpu Pärssinen, varpu.parssinen@gmail.com
