Thomas Garcia, PhD, HCLD (ABB)
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Positions
- Assistant Professor
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Department of Pathology & Immunology
Baylor College of Medicine
- Assistant Professor
-
Scott Department of Urology
Baylor College of Medicine
- Clinical Laboratory Director
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Advanced Reproductive And Urologic Procedures Laboratory
Scott Department of Urology
Baylor College of Medicine
- Clinical Laboratory Director
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Special Procedures Laboratory
Scott Department of Urology
Baylor College of Medicine
- Clinical Laboratory Director
-
Sperm Bank
Scott Department of Urology
Baylor College of Medicine
Education
- BS from Florida State University
- 08/2003 - Tallahassee, Florida United States
- PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 05/2009 - Urbana, Illinois United States
- Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- 08/2012 - Houston, Texas United States
Certifications
- High-complexity Clinical Laboratory Director (HCLD)
- American Board of Bioanalysis (ABB)
Professional Interests
- Identifying new genetic causes of male infertility
- Elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying sperm development, maturation, and function
- Investigating novel male reproductive tract-specific genes as contraceptive targets
Websites
The original Mammalian Reproductive Genetics Database (MRGD) was initially established by Dr. Robert Braun at the University of Washington in 1997 to host microarray-based gene expression data from many male and female reproductive tissue and cell studies. Through generous funding from the Male Contraceptive Initiative and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Garcia laboratory has developed the MRGDv2 as a modern-day iteration of the MRGD with the intent to disseminate more recent RNA sequencing-based gene expression data from male and female, human and mouse, reproductive and non-reproductive tissues and cells. In total, the MRGDv2 contains data from approximately 1,000 published bulk RNAseq datasets, all reprocessed in parallel through a custom bioinformatics pipeline to allow for cross-comparison of the data. As hosted on the website, the visualizations can be used to glean insight into the tissue or cell-specific expression of any queried gene, with the orthologous species' result(s) displayed side-by-side. Investigators using the website can customize the appearance and order of tissues and cells using the 'Customize Parameters' tool, and, when available, visualize the microarray-based expression data formerly on the original MRGD, along with receive insight into whether and which prior studies had previously identified the queried gene(s) as male reproductive tract-specific. HTML5 coding and server hosting efforts were led by Drs. Uma Ramamurthy and Vivek Ramanathan in the Office of Research Information Technology at Baylor College of Medicine.
Selected Publications
- Kent K, Nozawa K, Parkes R, Dean L, Daniel F, Leng M, Jain A, Malovannaya A, Matzuk MM, and Garcia TX "Large-scale CRISPR/Cas9 deletions within the WFDC gene cluster uncover gene functionality and critical roles in mammalian reproduction." Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2024 Dec 12;121(51)
- Garcia TX, Matzuk MM "Novel Genes of the Male Reproductive System: Potential Roles in Male Reproduction and as Non-hormonal Male Contraceptive Targets." Mol Reprod Dev. 2024 Oct;91(10) Pubmed PMID: 39422082
- Parkes R and Garcia TX "Bringing proteomics to bear on male fertility: key lessons." Expert Rev Proteomics. 2024 Apr;21(4):181-203. Pubmed PMID: 38536015
- Kent K, Nozawa K, Sutton C, Daniel F, Ikawa M, Garcia TX, Matzuk MM "CUB domains are not required for OVCH2 function in sperm maturation in the mouse epididymis." Andrology. 2024 Mar;12(3):682-697. Pubmed PMID: 37551853
- Suzuki A, Yabuta N, Shimada K, Mashiko D, Tokuhiro K, Oyama Y, Miyata H, Garcia TX, Matzuk MM, Ikawa M "Individual disruption of 12 testis-enriched genes via the CRISPR/Cas9 system does not affect the fertility of male mice." J Reprod Immunol. 2024 Jun;163 Pubmed PMID: 38697008
- Tan Z and Garcia TX "SLO3 in the fast lane: The latest male contraceptive target with a promising small-molecule inhibitor." PNAS. 2023 Feb 15;120(8):e2221758120.
- Sutton C, Nozawa K, Kent K, Saltzman A, Leng M, Nagarajan S, Malovannaya A, Ikawa M, Garcia TX, Matzuk MM "Molecular dissection and testing of PRSS37 function through LC-MS/MS and the generation of a PRSS37 humanized mouse model." Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 14;13(1):11374. Pubmed PMID: 37452050
- Nozawa K, Garcia TX, Kent K, Leng M, Jain A, Malovannaya A, Yuan F, Yu Z, Ikawa M, Matzuk MM "Testis-specific serine kinase 3 is required for sperm morphogenesis and male fertility." Andrology. 2023 Jul;11(5):826-839. Pubmed PMID: 36306217
- Nozawa K, Fujihara Y, Devlin DJ, Deras RE, Kent K, Larina IV, Umezu K, Yu Z, Sutton CM, Ye Q, Dean LK, Emori C, Ikawa M, Garcia TX, Matzuk MM "The testis-specific E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF133 is required for fecundity in mice." BMC Biol. 2022 Jul 13;20(1):161. Pubmed PMID: 35831855
- Oyama Y, Miyata H, Shimada K, Fujihara Y, Tokuhiro K, Garcia TX, Matzuk MM, Ikawa M "CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing reveals 12 testis-enriched genes dispensable for male fertility in mice." Asian J Androl. 2021 Jul 16; Pubmed PMID: 34290169
- Robertson MJ, Kent K, Tharp N, Nozawa K, Dean L, Mathew M, Grimm SL, Yu Z, Légaré C, Fujihara Y, Ikawa M, Sullivan R, Coarfa C, Matzuk MM, Garcia TX "Large-scale discovery of male reproductive tract-specific genes through analysis of RNA-seq datasets." BMC Biol. 2020 Aug 19;18(1):103. Pubmed PMID: 32814578
- Kent K, Johnston M, Strump N, and Garcia TX "Toward Development of the Male Pill: A Decade of Potential Non-hormonal Contraceptive Targets." Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Feb 26;
- Holcomb RJ, Oura S, Nozawa K, Kent K, Yu Z, Robertson MJ, Coarfa C, Matzuk MM, Ikawa M, Garcia TX "The testis-specific serine proteases PRSS44, PRSS46, and PRSS54 are dispensable for male mouse fertility." Biol Reprod. 2020 Feb 12;102(1):84-91. Pubmed PMID: 31403672
- Sun J, Lu Y, Nozawa K, Xu Z, Morohoshi A, Castaneda JM, Noda T, Miyata H, Abbasi F, Shawki HH, Takahashi S, Devlin DJ, Yu Z, Matzuk RM, Garcia TX, Matzuk MM, Ikawa M "CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing in mice uncovers 13 testis- or epididymis-enriched genes individually dispensable for male reproduction." Biol Reprod. 2020 Aug 4;103(2):183-194. Pubmed PMID: 32588039
- Park S, Shimada K, Fujihara Y, Xu Z, Shimada K, Larasati T, Pratiwi P, Matzuk RM, Devlin DJ, Yu Z, Garcia TX, Matzuk MM, Ikawa M "CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome-edited mice reveal 10 testis-enriched genes are dispensable for male fecundity." Biol Reprod. 2020 Aug 4;103(2):195-204. Pubmed PMID: 32561905
- Parekh PA, Garcia TX, Waheeb R, Jain V, Gandhi P, Meistrich ML, Shetty G, Hofmann MC "Undifferentiated spermatogonia regulate Cyp26b1 expression through NOTCH signaling and drive germ cell differentiation." FASEB J. 2019 Apr 16;fj201802361R. Pubmed PMID: 30991836
- Lu Y, Oura S, Matsumura T, Oji A, Sakurai N, Fujihara Y, Shimada K, Miyata H, Tobita T, Noda T, Castaneda JM, Kiyozumi D, Zhang Q, Larasati T, Young SAM, Kodani M, Robertson MJ, Coarfa C, Isotani A, Aitken RJ, Okabe M, Matzuk MM, Garcia TX, Ikawa M "CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing reveals 30 testis-enriched genes dispensable for male fertility in mice." Biol Reprod. 2019 Aug 1;101(2):501-511. Pubmed PMID: 31201419
- Parekh P, Garcia TX, Hofmann MC "Regulation of GDNF expression in Sertoli cells." Reproduction. 2019 Jan 1;pii: REP-18-0239.R2. Pubmed PMID: 30620720
- Garcia TX, Parekh P, Kow S, Hofmann MC "The NOTCH ligand JAG1 regulates GDNF expression in Sertoli cells." Stem Cells Dev. 2017 Apr 15;26(8):585-598. Pubmed PMID: 28051360
- Garcia TX, Farmaha JK, Kow S, Hofmann MC "RBPJ in mouse Sertoli cells is required for proper regulation of the testis stem cell niche." Development. 2014 Dec;141(23):4468-78. Pubmed PMID: 25406395
- Garcia TX, Costa GMJ, França LR, Hofmann MC "Sub-acute intravenous administration of silver nanoparticles in male mice alters Leydig cell function and testosterone levels." Reprod Toxicol. 2014 Jun;45:59-70. Pubmed PMID: 24447867
- Garcia TX, Hofmann MC "NOTCH signaling in Sertoli cells regulates gonocyte fate." Cell Cycle. 2013 Aug 15;12(16):2538-45. Pubmed PMID: 23907117
- Garcia TX, DeFalco T, Capel B, Hofmann MC "Constitutive activation of NOTCH1 signaling in Sertoli cells causes gonocyte exit from quiescence." Dev Biol. 2013 May 1;377(1):188-201. Pubmed PMID: 23391689
- Garcia T, Hofmann MC "Isolation of undifferentiated and early differentiating Type A spermatogonia from Pou5f1-GFP reporter mice." Methods Mol Biol. 2012;825:31-44. Pubmed PMID: 22144234
- Lin Z, Witschas K, Garcia T, Chen RS, Hansen JP, Sellers ZM, Kuzmenkina E, Herzig S, Best PM "A critical GxxxA motif in the gamma6 calcium channel subunit mediates its inhibitory effect on Cav3.1 calcium current." J Physiol. 2008 Nov 15;586(22):5349-66. Pubmed PMID: 18818244
Memberships
- Society for the Study of Reproduction
- Member
- American Society for Human Genetics
- Member
- American Urological Association
- Member
- American Association of Bioanalysts
- Member
Funding
- Search for new genes involved in male infertility through novel approaches - #R01 HD106056 (02/22/2022 - 11/30/2026) Grant funding from National Institutes of Health
- Third-generation sequencing of infertile men to confirm male contraceptive target feasibility (02/01/2022 - 01/31/2024) Grant funding from Male Contraceptive Initiative
- Mammalian Reproductive Genetics Database V2 (05/01/2021 - 04/30/2022) Grant funding from Male Contraceptive Initiative
- Functional genomics and proteomics to reveal reproductive-tract specific proteins - #R01 HD095341 (04/01/2018 - 03/31/2021) Grant funding from National Institutes of Health
Intellectual Property
- Peptides and Regulation of Calcium Channels
- Method Patent #US 8,299,211 B2 (Approved)
- This method and composition patent discloses methods and compositions involving short peptides capable of regulating calcium channel function, particularly for applications in modulating calcium current in mammalian cells. The patent includes embodiments of peptides, nucleic acids encoding these peptides, and pharmaceutical compositions for therapeutic use.
- Co Inventors: Philip M. Best, Ren-Shiang Chen, Zuojun Lin, Thomas Garcia
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