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The following is a list of faculty interests and projects as provided by them (click each to view details). Its purpose is to expose the residents to current research conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan. |
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For residents who need funding for a project, you may apply for up to $3000 through Dr. Haefner or Dr. Johnson. |
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| Sager Day 2002 Research Abstracts | |||
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My
current research includes:
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| We have so many projects going on that it is difficult to summarize. Anyone who is interested in research related to urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, fecal incontinence should see me to discuss. We can arrange almost anything. | |||
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| Carbohydrate-containing glycoconjugates decorate every epithelial cell in the body. The long-term objective of my basic research program is to define the functions of cell-surface carbohydrates in reproductive tissues, potentially leading to treatments for some forms of infertility and pregnancy complications. The goal of my current project is to determine whether a specific carbohydrate, the H type I oligosaccharide, is required for implantation in the mouse. By observing the fertility of transgenic mice lacking the enzymes that synthesize the H type I oligosaccharide, we will be able to definitively determine the role of this carbohydrate in implantation. The major funding of this project is from the NIH (K08 HD01195). | |||
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| Email
dlfoster@umich.edu
No single hormone is more central to the control of fertility than is gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Our laboratory studies the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying the increase in brain-derived GnRH that causes the transition into adulthood. We wish to understand how the pubertal increase of GnRH secretion from the hypothalamus is timed because this, in turn, increases the production of pituitary LH to stimulate the gonads to function as those of an adult. Our interest is at several levels. First, we are broadly concerned with how individual GnRH neurons function synchronously and more specifically, which neurotransmitters modulate GnRH secretion during sexual maturation. Second, we are attempting to identify growth-related cues, their sensors and neural pathways which provide information to the brain about when somatic development is sufficient to produce the pubertal rise in GnRH. How does the brain perceive body size? Through metabolic cues? Which one(s)? Glucose is a likely candidate, and we are currently studying its regulation during development. Delayed puberty in uncontrolled diabetes provides an instructive model with which to understand how glucose availability regulates GnRH secretion. Third, we study how and when the brain becomes sexually differentiated by gonadal steroids to time puberty at different ages in males and females. It is likely that certain environmental agents, by acting as steroid mimics or disrupters during critical periods of development, alter the time course of the pubertal increase in GnRH secretion to advance, delay, or prevent reproductive maturation. Thus, studies of developmental and reproductive toxicology will better define the mode of action of action of adverse environmental agents on the control of GnRH secretion and the periods of susceptibility to such agents during sexual maturation.
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My
research interests/work is in:
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Research
Interests: Africa; transnational women's health; history of childbirth,
reproduction and in/fertility; history and anthropology of medicine;
women's and gender history; colonial studies; translation and popular
culture; international/transnational perspectives; Congo-Zaire; Ghana
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| Jiayuh Lin. Ph.D | |||
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There are two major research programs ongoing in Dr. Lin's laboratory. One project is to evaluate the potential of a modified p53 tumor suppresor to inhibit mdm2 oncogenic pathway in cancer cells overexpressing mdm2 oncogene product. The second project is to examine the role of Stat3 oncogene product in human ovarian cancer cells. |
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| The
following is a brief outline of my current research interests;
1. Regulation of LH receptor expression in the ovary : This project focusses on the regulation receptor transcripts at various physiological states and relates it with the mRNA binding proteins that we have identified. 2. Identification of LH receptor mutations in patho-physiological states : We are examining the naturally occuring LH receptor mutations ( activating and inactivating) that affect reproductive function, their identification and functional analysis. 3. Ovarian function in hyperandrogenic states : This project examines the mechanism of excess androgen production by the theca-interstitial cells and determine the contribution of insulin/IGF-1 on this pathway. The effect of excess androgen on granulosa cells is examined by studying the cycle progression of granulosa cell. The goal is to determine the molecular mechanism underlying the inhibition of ovulation seen in hyperandrogenic state such as PCOS. |
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| I have the two research projects in which I am involved ,Term Breech Trial and Misoprostol, already on the departmental research website. | |||
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| Email
pearlman@umich.edu
Cefazolin cross-placental passage in ob patients w/ Tina Fiore Multiple project in trauma and pregnancy: causes of abruption, crash reconstruction involving pregnant occupants, frequency of fetal death due to motor vehicle crashes, development and testing of the second generation pregnant crash dummy. Group B Streptococcus in pregnancy: Rapid detection of GBS using bedside nanotechnology (Handylab). Gene subtraction methods to better understand virulence factors in GBS (NIH). Patient safety in labor and delivery project involving resource crew management (MedTeams/ACOG).
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| 1.
SWAN study of the perimenopause: multicenter national observational
study of the biology of the transition.
2. Clinical trials of HRT and osteoporosis agents. |
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Gary
D. Smith, Ph.D. Assistant
Professor, Departments of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Physiology, Medical
School and Assistant Research Scientist, Reproductive Sciences Program. Research
in my laboratory focuses on regulation of gamete and early embryo function.
Specifically we are investigating extrinsic and intracellular
regulation of oocyte meiosis, intracellular regulation of sperm motility,
and molecular regulators of embryonic developmental competence. We have
recently reported that oocytes take up dopamine, convert dopamine to
norepinephrine and communicate with follicular cells with this oocyte-derived
norepinephrine. Presently,
we are investigating the functional importance of this system in relation
to oocyte meiosis, folliculogenesis and oocyte-follicular cell paracrine
communication. Understanding
such cross-talk between the oocyte and follicle may be pivotal in addressing
the pathophysiology of polycystic ovarian syndrome, aberrant follicle
responses to exogenous gonadotropins and shortcomings in embryonic development
following oocyte maturation in
vitro. Our
current understandings of intracellular mechanisms governing development
of germinal vesicle breakdown competence, resumption of meiosis and
acquisition of subsequent embryonic developmental competence are incomplete.
Although significant advances have been made in elucidating the
control of oocyte nuclear maturation, much less is known regarding cytoplasmic
maturation. Presently we
are studying oocyte transcriptional regulation [cAMP-dependent protein
kinase/cAMP response element- binding protein (CREB)/CREB-binding protein
(CBP)] and post-translational modifications [phosphorylation/dephosphorylation
by protein phosphatases (PP1 and PP2A) and kinases (MPF and MAP-kinase)]
during acquisition of meiotic competence and cytoplasmic maturation
as they relate to embryonic developmental competence.
Understanding intracellular regulation of sperm motility, while essential for addressing causes of asthenozoospermia, may also help explain causes for idiopathic male-factor infertility. We have recently described the presence of a specific PP in primate sperm, and its inverse relationship to motility. The sperm phosphoproteins that this PP dephosphorylates to influence motility have not been identified. Microtubule motor proteins, whose activities are regulated by reversible phosphorylation, are important stimulators of microtubule-based motion. Thus, we are investigating the hypothesis that OA-sensitive PP’s influences human sperm motility by regulating the phosphorylated state of kinesin and/or dynein. Recent
Publications: Smith GD, Wolf DP, Trautman KC, da Cruz e Silva EF,
Greengard P, Vijayaraghavan S. Primate sperm contain protein phosphatase
1 (PP1): a biochemical mediator of motility.
Biol Reprod (1996)
54:719-727. Smith
GD,
Sadhu A, Mathies S, Wolf DP. Transient
exposure of rhesus macaque oocytes to calyculin-a and okadaic acid stimulated
germinal vesicle breakdown permitting subsequent development and fertilization.
Biol Reprod (1998)
58: 880-886. Mayerhofer A, Smith GD, Danilchik M,
Levine J, Wolf DP, Costa M, Ojeda SR. Identification of oocytes as one
of the intragonadal sites of norepinephrine synthesis of the primate
ovary - evidence for a novel cell-cell regulatory loop in the ovary. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA
(1998) 95:10990-10995. Smith GD, Sadhu A, Mathies S, Wolf DP.
Characterization of protein phosphatases in mouse oocytes.
Developmental Biology (1998) 204:537-549. Smith GD, Wolf DP, Trautman KC, Vijayaraghavan S.
Motility initiation in macaque epididymal sperm: The role of
protein phosphatases and glycogen synthase kinase-3 activities.
J Androl (1999) 20:47-53. Smith
GD,
Liu XT. Endogenous regulation
of mouse oocyte serine/threonine protein phosphatase-1 involve cytoplasmic
regulators, inhibitor-2 and glycogen synthase kinase-3, and nuclear
translocation. Biol
Reprod (1999) submitted.
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