SRF Exchange lectures
SRF/SRB David Healy Post-Doc Exchange (Australia)
Dr Bridget Arman, University of Melbourne, Australia
Learning objectives:
- To review the limitations of current tocolytics used to delay preterm birth
- To introduce our pipeline of preclinical models used to investigate new and novel therapies
- To discuss preclinical preliminary findings of current and new therapeutics
Bridget is a final year PhD student within the Therapeutics Discovery and Vascular Function in Pregnancy group at the University of Melbourne under the primary supervision of Prof Natalie Hannan. She has a background in embryology, infertility, and reproductive immunology research at the University of Adelaide and Robinson Research Institute. In 2020, she moved to Melbourne to join her current team and she is now focussing on the uterus and parturition, specialising in the myometrium. Her PhD project is investigating novel therapeutics for the prevention of preterm birth. Being based at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Melbourne, she has the benefit of performing preclinical studies utilising samples collected from pregnant patients and the ability to work collaboratively with clinicians, midwives and scientists within the teams of Mercy Perinatal.
SRF/SSR Virendra Mahesh New Investigator (USA): The AMH/AMHR2 axis as a target for contraception
Dr David Pépin, Associate Professor, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA
Learning objectives:
- Understand how AMH regualtes pre-antral follicle activation and growth.
- Understand how gene therapy with AMH can lead to contraception without loss of steroidogenesis.
- Understand how AMHR2 may be targeted for contraceptive drug development.
Dr. Pépin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, an Associate Molecular Biologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Associate Director of the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories of the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Pépin trained as a reproductive biologist, completing his Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa, Canada, studying the role of SMARCA1 in the regulation of ovarian folliculogenesis under the mentorship of Barbara C. Vanderhyden. Dr. Pépin then pursued his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Patricia K. Donahoe, at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he worked on the biology of Mullerian Inhibiting Substance (MIS or AMH) and its application to the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Dr. Pépin now leads a laboratory investigating the role of AMH/MIS in female reproduction and particularly in the context of ovarian function and diseases. His research includes basic reproductive development, and applied translational work in contraception, oncofertility, assisted reproduction, and ovarian cancer.
SRF/SSR New Investigator UK
Dr Roseanne Rosario, Academic Track Lecturer (Reproductive Biology), University of Edinburgh, UK
Dr Roseanne Rosario completed her Postdoctoral training with Professor Richard Anderson at the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, before moving to the Deanery of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Edinburgh to establish her research group. Roseanne is interested in exploring the formation of the ovarian reserve, and the mechanisms that underlie follicle loss, especially in women following chemotherapy treatment, and ways to protect against this.
Reproduction Journal Prize Lecture: Effect of in vitro growth on mouse oocyte competency, mitochondria and transcriptome
Dr Tomoya Takashima, Post Doctoral Fellow, Nara Medical University, Japan
Dr Tomoya Takashima received his BSc (2016) and MSc (2018) from Tokyo University of Agriculture for epigenome and non-coding RNA studies on sex-specific differentiation of mouse primordial germ cells in Prof. Tomohiro Kono’s group. He then studied the competency of oocytes using in vitro mouse oocyte culture systems and bioinformatics, and received his PhD in 2021 under the supervision of Prof. Yayoi Obata at Tokyo University of Agriculture. After receiving his degree, he continues research on gametogenesis, especially on the mechanism of oogenesis, in the laboratory of Kazuki Kurimoto at Nara Medical University as a postdoctoral fellow. His article in Reproduction journal “Effect of in vitro growth on mouse oocyte competency, mitochondria and transcriptome”, reporting on his doctoral research, won the 2022 Best Research Award in Reproduction journal.