The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) has just published a summary of the current oncofertility research in their e-Advances section titled “Building an Artificial Ovary – A New Tool for Understanding Reproductive Biology and Preserving Fertility”. This is a great piece to read if you just want a basic idea of the research behind the oncofertility consortium, and where the program is headed!

Our lab has found that follicles (the reproductive unit containing the egg and supporting cells) maintain their natural shape if grown within the biomaterial alginate in the form of a hydrogel. This allows scientists to study follicles in vitro, which is useful to understand how the follicle interacts with its environment. Also, beyond basic science, this follicle culture system is being optimized so that it can be translated to clinical use.

I am a graduate student in Dr. Lonnie Shea’s group investigating biomaterials for regenerative medicine. I have just completed my first year of graduate school in the department of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University. I did my undergraduate studies at Iowa State University, majoring in Biochemistry. I would like to further the understanding of how a follicle interacts with its environment by creating synthetic matrices with biomaterials. I will be considering both mechanical and biological signaling between the follicle and its environment. The influence of mechanical signaling (called mechanotransduction) is a relatively new area of study, so a lot of exciting new discoveries in the field of mechanotransduction are happening! My “big-picture” goal is to apply these findings to the creation of in vitro models of fertility and infertility, and to improve the follicle culture system for the clinical applications of the Oncofertility project.