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Regenerative & Precision Medicine 2016
December 1-2, 2016
Volume 7, Issue 3(Suppl) J Tissue Sci Eng
ISSN: 2157-7552 JTSE, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
December 1-2, 2016 | San Antonio, USA
Global Congress on
Tissue Engineering, Regenerative &
Precision Medicine
Dori C Woods, J Tissue Sci Eng 2016, 7:3(Suppl)
Re-imagining the ovary: Recent advances and technical hurdles in recapitulation of the human
ovarian micro environment
Dori C Woods
Northeastern University, USA
S tem cell-based strategies for improvement of female infertility harbor tremendous potential not only restoring or sustaining
fertility via oocyte production and development but alsominimizing severity of the health consequences that accompany the
endocrine disruption that occurs at menopause. Recent advances from our work and others have convincingly demonstrated
that viable oocytes can be generated from primitive stem cell sources, opening the door for new avenues of research centered on
ovarian regeneration and tissue bioengineering. However, both the endocrine function of the ovary and our current ability to
generate fertilizable eggs is dependent upon the ovarian follicle structure, which includes the germ cell surrounded by a highly
specialized layer of somatic cells responsible for the synthesis of sex steroid hormones. These cells, termed granulosa cells are
requisite for the maintenance of hormonal stasis with the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. With advancing age these cells decline in
number and function, ultimately resulting in cessation of fertility and endocrine dysfunction. Accordingly, cell- or tissue-based
strategies aimed at generating an ‘artificial ovary’ for fertility or endocrine purposes must take into account multiple cellular
lineages that work together in a complex microenvironment, comprised of distinct biological matrices. Working towards this,
we have evaluated human ovarian composition throughout development and adulthood via a comprehensive quantitative
proteomic analysis and are directly applying this toward the development of an ovarian stem cell-based artificial ovary system.
Biography
Dori C Woods has completed her PhD at the University of Notre Dame, working on granulosa cell function and steroidogenesis. She is currently an Assistant
Professor at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, with a research focus on ovarian stem cells and the decline in female fertility with age. She has published over
30 manuscripts and review articles on ovarian function.