The goal of the NextGen Precision Health & Ellis Fischel Cancer Center Science Seminar is to highlight transdisciplinary precision research taking place in the cancer 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.

For questions about this event, please reach out to Veronica Lemme.

“Ovarian reserve maintenance and future fertility preservation for female cancer patients”

Speaker: Lei Lei, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health, University of Missouri School of Medicine

Date: March 16, 2023, 4:30-5:30 p.m.

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

In-person with virtual option

Register Here

Description

In adult females, normal ovarian function is sustained by a pool of quiescent primordial follicles, namely the ovarian reserve. The ovarian reserve forms only during fetal ovarian development and is very vulnerable to harm by toxic environmental factors, radiation and chemotherapy. Diminished ovarian reserve due to genetic and non-genetic factors, as well as cancer treatment causes premature ovarian insufficiency. Our recent study demonstrated that the quantity and quality of the ovarian reserve are determined by intercellular organelle transport during fetal ovarian development, and ovarian reserve maintenance is regulated through organelle organization in the primary oocytes. These new findings allow us to continue investigating the early detection of premature ovarian insufficiency and the prevention of ovarian reserve loss due to cancer treatment. 

Speaker Bio

Dr. Lei is an associate professor in the Department of Ob/Gyn and Women’s health at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. She holds an adjunct appointment in the Division of Biological Sciences at the College of Arts and Sciences also at the University of Missouri. Dr. Lei received her postdoctoral training in stem cell biology at the Carnegie Institution for Science and in ovarian biology at Northwestern University. In 2015, Dr. Lei established her lab in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan Medical School. The research in the Lei lab focuses on ovarian reserve formation and maintenance and associated female reproductive health issues, particularly how genetic and environmental factors attribute to the loss of ovarian function. Dr. Lei’s research has been published in the journals Science, PNAS, Development and Biology Open. Dr. Lei received the Young Investigators Achievement Award from the Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine in 2016, and her lab is currently supported by National Institute of General Medical Sciences R01 award.