Dr. Nardhy Gomez-Lopez’s paper “Blockade of IL-6R prevents preterm birth and adverse neonatal outcomes” was published in eBioMedicine. Evidence before this study Prematurity remains as the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality before five years of age globally. One in every three preterm infants is born to a pregnant individual with inflammation of the […]
Sarah England, PhD, Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Medicine, Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Director of the Center for Reproductive Health Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine, recently received distinctive recognition of her exceptional research accomplishments and service in the field of obstetrics and […]
Reproductive biologist Sarah K. England, PhD, and two others from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences. Membership in the organization is one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine in the United […]
Peinan Zhao, PhD, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, received a new five year R01 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) with co-principal investigator Molly Stout, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan. The R01 grant provides […]
Farners Amargant i Riera, PhD, was awarded an R00 for her project titled, “Mechanotransduction mechanisms of ovarian aging.” Dr. Amargant i Riera will examine how the increase in the biomechanical properties of the ovary with age are spatially and hormonally regulated and how they influence follicle transcriptome through the YAP1 pathway. Overall, the proposed studies […]
Happy National Postdoc Appreciation Week! WashU has a diverse community of over 850 postdocs from different parts of the world. Their commitment to research, teaching, and mentorship not only enhances the academic community at Washington University, but also plays a pivotal role in advancing science, technology, and scholarship across the country and around the world. We […]
Antonina Frolova, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was awarded an R21 for her project titled, “Metabolic mechanisms of uterine contractility in labor.” The objective of the project is to determine the mechanisms driving obesity-related labor dysfunction. This research may lead to new options for pharmacologic and behavioral interventions to optimize myometrial energy […]
Jeannie Kelly, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Yong Wang, PhD, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, were awarded an R01 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The project is titled, “The Opioid in Pregnancy: Imaging of Oxygenation, Inflammation, and Development in Brain & Placenta […]
Dr. Maggie Mullen has been awarded grant funding through the 2023 Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in partnership with Pelotonia & AACR, Targeting platinum chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer. **This two-year grant starts in September.** These accomplishments are impossible without our amazing research and clinical teams and the sponsorship of our […]
Sumegha Mitra, PhD, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, received a 3-year, $754,414 Research Scholar Grant, RSG-22-070-01-TBE, from the American Cancer Society (ACS) to study high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). Dr. Mitra’s ACS-funded project is titled “Protein Homeostasis Network Regulates Oncogenic Signaling in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer.” “My American Cancer Society grant will study how adaptive […]
Eric P. Newman Education Center @ Washington University Medical CenterOctober 19, 2023 8:00 AM – October 20, 2023 3:30 PM Coordinator Michelle R Padgett, MS, ATC, Washington University CME Agenda This conference is offered as an in-person course only. Thursday, October 19, 2023 7:30am Registration & Continental Breakfast 8:10 Welcome – Makeba Williams, MD, NCMP Session I […]
The lab of Celia Santi, MD, PhD, has been busy this summer with scientific discussions and networking opportunities! Dr. Santi presented her lab’s work on non-hormonal contraception during the “Male Contraceptive” session at the Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) 56th Annual Meeting. The “Reproductive Sciences: From Innovation to Impact” SSR meeting took place in Ottawa, Canada, […]
Amanda Compadre, MD, and Lily van Biljon recently published an article in Clinical Cancer Research titled “RAD51 Foci as a Biomarker Predictive of Platinum Chemotherapy Response in Ovarian Cancer.” This paper demonstrates that RAD51 foci are a robust marker of platinum chemotherapy response and survival in ovarian cancer. This research was led by Mary (Maggie) Mullen, MD. […]
Antonina (Toni) Frolova, MD, PhD, a maternal-fetal medicine physician and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, applied and was selected to be a scholar in the Doris Duke COVID-19 Fund to Retain Clinical Scientists (CFRCS) program at Washington University School of Medicine. As an early career physician-scientist, the program will benefit Dr. Frolova’s navigation of this stage […]
Magdalena Nelson, MBA, Director of Research and Business Administration in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is this year’s recipient of the WashU School of Medicine Research Support Award. This award from the medical school recognizes employees for exceptional performance or cooperation, outstanding leadership, and superior quality of service. As a distinguished honors awardee, Magdalena was […]
The WashU Gynecologic Oncology Tissue Bank celebrated collecting its 100th tissue sample for bench-to-bedside research endeavors. Along with this notable achievement in specimen collection, the labs of Drs. Dineo Khabele and Maggie Mullen have instituted a newly organized process for collecting and managing samples, and are developing research on patient-derived organoids. “We couldn’t have done it without the hard […]
The Center for Reproductive Health Sciences celebrated its graduates! Congrats to all and good luck with your future endeavors!
The Mullen lab at the Siteman Cancer Center’s Center for Genome Integrity retreat. Viju Gupta, PhD from the Khabele lab also presented! Dr. Amanda Compadre received an honorable mention for the best Oral Presentation and Olivia Graham and Jeimmy Rodriguez of our Tissue Bank got an honorable mention for the best poster presentation. Big wins […]
The WashU Gynecologic Oncology Tissue Bank just celebrated collecting its 100th tissue sample for bench-to-bedside research endeavors. Along with this notable achievement in specimen collection, the labs of Drs. Dineo Khabele and Maggie Mullen with the Center for Reproductive Health Sciences (CRepHS) and the Division of Gynecologic Oncology (GynOnc) have instituted a newly organized process for collecting and managing […]
Members of CRepHS recently voyaged to Brisbane, Australia to present at and attend the 70th Annual Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI). Sicheng Wang and Yiqi Lin (Wang Lab) both won the SRI President’s Presenter’s Award, Patricia Strutz, MD, MSCI (England Lab) and Zhexian Sun (Wang Lab) both won the Poster Award, and […]
“The study team, led by Yong Wang, Ph.D., and Alan Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., at Washington University in St. Louis, and Alison Cahill, M.D., at the University of Texas at Austin, initially developed EMMI using a sheep model and reported their findings in Science Translational Medicine. In the new study, the team tailored EMMI for human clinical use […]
Juan Ferreira, PhD, postdoctoral research associate in the Santi Lab, recently earned a fellowship award from the Lalor Foundation for his research on a new assay to evaluate sperm fertilization capacity in infertile patients. “I would like to express thanks to Drs. England, Blanco, Lishko and Frank for their support of this project,” Ferreira states, “and […]
WashU’s Department of OBGYN has once again achieved a US TOP 10 RANKING! Funds awarded to our department by the National Institutes of Health totaled $6.4M in 2022, as reported by Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research #BRIMR. Congrats to our amazing & dedicated research teams!
The members of CRepHS held a Valentine’s Bake-Off and card-making party. Photos courtesy of Julie Emmerich!
To fertilize an egg, human sperm must undergo a process in which the membrane becomes more negative inside. The ion channel responsible for this membrane hyperpolarization has long been unclear. In this publication, the Santi and Denton labs describe a screen to identify inhibitors of a strong candidate – the sperm-specific potassium channel SLO3. They […]
Celia Santi, MD, Ph.D., recently received a two-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The $435,000 award, beginning November 2022, will support her lab’s efforts in screening and characterizing a new class of female-controlled non-hormonal contraceptive agents using in vitro and in vivo assays. Dr. Santi’s research project is titled, “SLO3 inhibitors: a […]
Two new trainees recently began their fellowships through the Department of Ob/Gyn’s T32 training grant titled, “Clinical Outcomes Research Training in Female Lower Urinary Tract Disorders,” led by Co-Principal Investigators Jerry Lowder, MD, MSc, and Siobhan Sutcliffe, PhD, and funded through the NIH NIDDK. Dr. Victoria Leigh Brown received her PhD in Anthropology from Binghamton […]
The Center for Reproductive Health Sciences (CRepHS) is pleased to share our newsletter, released February 2022. The CRepHS Newsletter will be distributed on a quarterly basis.
PhD Candidate Juan Ferreira from Dr. Celia Santi’s lab successfully defended his thesis in January 2022, entitled “SLO2.1 channels: a new molecular mechanism to regulate uterine excitability.” Congratulations, Dr. Ferreira!
Dr. Sarah England recognized at Washington University in St. Louis’ annual Founders Day celebration
Dr. Ramakrishna Kommagani receives an NIH R01 grant
Study will evaluate testing access and if pregnant women with COVID-19 need specialized care
Research shows no benefits for infants
Determinants of Urogenital Tract Homeostasis in Aging
The Long Road to Fertilization: From the Bench to the Bedside and Back Again
Targeted treatment reduces number of disease-causing microbes in mice
Effects of high-fat, high-sugar diet on heart passed down three generations
No increased risks to newborns, study shows
Brooke Liang has been selected to receive mentored training through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) Medical Research Fellows Program.
BME Senior Design Project Award
What can we do to be prepared for the next epidemic? What have we learned over the years from HIV work in pregnancy? What are the findings on vertical transmission of ZIKV? How can the rapid flow between murine findings help improve human health? These and other equally important findings will be presented and discussed […]
The womb was thought to be sterile, but some scientists argue that it’s where the microbiome begins.
Honor recognizes long-term commitment that has benefited medical school
Bin Cao, PhD, has been named a 2017 STAT Wunderkind.
Pregnancy researcher recognized for studies of Zika infection, preterm birth
Carmel Martin-Fairey, PhD, postdoctoral research scholar in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has received a research fellowship award entitled “Role of peripheral oscillators in the timing of birth” funded by the National Institutes of Health – Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Prematurity is the greatest contributor to infant […]
Yong Wang, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has received a new $3.75 million award entitled “Quantification of neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease using Diffusion Basis Spectrum Imaging” funded by the National Institutes of Health – National Institute of Aging. Alzheimer’s disease is preceded by at least a decade of clinically silent […]
Noted researcher encourages tenacity and tackling new challenges
Celia Santi, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, has received a new award entitled “SLO3 K Channel: A Novel Target for Contraception” from the National Institutes of Health. In this one-year-long study, Dr. Santi aims to acquire a deeper understanding of the role of ion channels in sperm fertility. Her […]
Premature babies are prevalent in the United States, with one in every 10 children born before 37 weeks.