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An intensive six-week course consisting of lectures and laboratories. This course is limited to 20 participants and is designed for postdoctoral and clinical fellows, newly independent scientists and physicians, or senior graduate students who are seeking training in state-of-the art research strategies and methods needed to pursue studies on reproduction.
The course is divided into three major sections of two weeks’ duration. Each section consists of lectures from resident faculty and other invited speakers, discussions and informal seminars, laboratory exercises, demonstrations, and one-on-one tutorials.
The first section is directed by Leslie Heckert and covers signal transduction and gene expression in reproductive endocrinology. The laboratories of this section are devoted to the study of (a) the signaling pathways activated by the gonadotropin receptors in their target cells; (b) the mode of action of the classical steroid receptors; (c) transcriptional regulation of gene expression; and (d) the use of bioinformatics tools for mining public databases.
The second section covers transgenic technology, cell-cell interactions in reproductive tissues during development as well as embryology and implantation biology. This section is directed by Franco DeMayo and consists of laboratories on transgenic techniques including inducible gene expression and ablation, and on the use of transgenic models to determine the consequences of specific gene ablation on embryo implantation, development, sex differentiation, and placentation. The laboratories in this section are designed to study placental morphology and function during early gestation, the regulation of epithelial cell differentiation by mesenchymal signals, the genetic basis of sex differentiation, the function of extracellular matrices on trophoblast attachment and migration, and the inhibition of implantation by blocking interactions with cell adhesion molecules. This section also includes an introduction to high density DNA microarray analysis to identify molecular pathways regulating reproductive processes.
The third section, directed by David Albertini, is focused on gametogenesis, fertilization, cloning, and stem cells. This section consists of laboratories on (a) the culture, maturation and analysis of ovarian follicles and mouse oocytes; (b) the transplantation of germ cells; (c) the analysis of meiotic cell cycle control using living and fixed germ cells (d) ICSI, cloning, and preimplantation genetic diagnosis; (e) assisted reproductive technologies; and (f) embryonic stem cells, nuclear transfer, and cloning. Experiments rely heavily on the use of various imaging strategies to explore dynamic aspects of germ cell and embryo behaviors such as cell-cell interactions, signaling, chromatin remodeling, and differences between meiotic and mitotic cell cycle progression.
In each of the sections the laboratory exercises are supplemented with lectures by resident faculty and other leading investigators who discuss their current research in various aspects of reproduction ranging from gamete interactions, early development, implantation, parturition, immunology, the molecular and cellular basis of hormone action in reproductive tissues, reproductive disorders and clinical aspects of reproductive biology and endocrinology. Resident faculty also lead discussions on the theoretical basis of the laboratory exercises as well as discussions of the expected outcomes and the potential clinical relevance of some of the areas of focus.
The course also includes discussions on professional development such as publishing, funding opportunities, and grant preparation and review. Frontiers in Reproduction ends with a two-day symposium featuring seminars by distinguished speakers and short research presentations by current and previous participants.
This course is supported by grants from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, NIH. Substantial financial aid is available to admitted applicants regardless of nationality. Scholarships are based on need and may cover the majority of course and travel costs.
2008 Faculty:
Russell Broaddus, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Paul Cooke, University of Illinois
Donald DeFranco, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Ina Dobrinski, University of Pennsylvania
Tanja Dominko, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
John Eppig, The Jackson Laboratory
Asgi Fazleabas, University of Illinois
Harvey Florman, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Barry Hinton, University of Virginia
Laurinda Jaffe, University of Connecticut Health Center
Ruth Keri, Case Western Reserve University
Martin Matzuk, Baylor College of Medicine
Michael McClure, U.S. EPA
Bruce Murphy, Université de Montréal
Eric Overstrom, WPI
Ray Page, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Richard Schultz, University of Pennsylvania
Paula Stein, University of Pennsylvania
Susan Suarez, Cornell University
Ann Sutherland, University of Virginia
Humphrey Yao, University of Illinois
2008 Lecturers:
Michael Bedford, Cornell University
Robert Braun, The Jackson Laboratory
Sally Camper, University of Michigan
Blanche Capel, Duke University Medical Center
Marco Conti, Stanford University School of Medicine
Austin Cooney, Baylor College of Medicine
Ursula Kaiser, Brigham and Women's Hospital
David Keefe, University of Southern Florida
Minoru Ko, National Institute on Aging, NIH
Kenneth Korach, NIEHS/NIH
Keith Latham, Temple University School of Medicine
Jon Levine, Northwestern University
Kelly E. Mayo, Northwestern University
Margaret Petroff, University of Kansas Medical Center
Jun Qin, Baylor College of Medicine
Barry Zirkin, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
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