SRF Satellite Day
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
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.
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 Reserch Award in Reproduction journal.