Our laboratory studies the biochemistry of animal fertilization in three models: humans, lungless salamanders, and marine abalone. Each system offers unique experimental opportunities for understanding core mechanisms of animal fertilization, the evolution of reproductive barriers, and possible drivers of human infertility. Biophysical properties and molecular interactions of reproductive proteins are studied using a range of tools including multidimensional NMR and mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics. New software tools and statistical models are developed as needed for analyzing biophysical, mass spectrometry, and evolutionary genomic data.