The goal of the Interdisciplinary Reproduction & Health Group (IRHG) Seminar Series is to highlight transdisciplinary precision research taking place in the reproductive health field, provide opportunities for collaboration among researchers to build their own research efforts and promote clinical/researcher activity across the University of Missouri System and our partners.

The IRHG was organized and established through a faculty-driven, grass roots effort in 2016 to develop an integrative interdisciplinary program that transcends traditional departmental, college and system boundaries to foster excellence in reproduction, health research and education at Mizzou.

View all upcoming Reproductive Health events on the IRHG Seminar Series website.

For questions about this event, please reach out to Wipawee Winuthayanon.

Cell Fate Decisions in Sex Duct Development

Speaker: Fei Zhao, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Date: May 1, 2024, 4-5 p.m.

Location: Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health Building, Atkins Family Seminar Room

In-person and virtual option

• Light snack will be provided in person. All are welcome!
• Attend virtually in Zoom with ID 969 5309 4849 and passcode 422673. 

About the Speaker

Dr. Fei Zhao aims to understand cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying sexual differentiation of reproductive tracts. Before sexual differentiation, both primitive male and female reproductive tracts co-exist in an embryo. During sexual differentiation, the embryo eliminates one of the two primitive tracts and maintains exclusively the one matching to its sex. The retained sex-specific tract eventually differentiates into a functional organ in the adult reproductive system. Sexual differentiation and function of reproductive tracts are regulated/influenced by actions of sex hormones. Therefore, during differentiation, the male and female reproductive tract must acquire/develop proper responsiveness to sex hormones; environmental chemicals mimicking sex hormones can have adverse effects on reproductive tract differentiation. The Zhao Lab is particularly interested in and focus on understanding mechanisms underlying the above phenomena:

How are sex-specific fates of two primitive reproductive tracts regulated?
How does the male and female reproductive tract acquire/develop proper responsiveness to male and female sex hormones, respectively?
How do environmental chemicals that interfere with sex hormone signaling affect reproductive tract differentiation?

Zhao's team addresses these questions by utilizing transgenic and conditional knockout mouse models, ex vivo organ culture, gene/protein expression analyses, genomic and single-cell technologies. Disruptions in reproductive tract differentiation can lead to disorders of sex development and jeopardize an individual’s future reproductive potential. His research will provide fundamental knowledge for the development of better strategies for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of related disorders of sex development and reproductive diseases.