The purpose of this established interdisciplinary program is to train postdoctoral and predoctoral fellows in the physiology, endocrinology and molecular biology of reproduction. Typically our postdoctoral and predoctoral trainees have background experience in one or more biological disciplines such as endocrinology, reproductive biology, neurobiology and molecular biology. Seventeen training program research faculty members, who are appointed in five discipline-related departments, provide great breadth and depth in research training opportunities. Current projects on all classes of reproductive hormones cover many aspects of both male and female reproductive biology. Studies are conducted on both small and large animals at the molecular, cellular, organ, and whole-animal levels. Ongoing research projects relate directly to major national health-related objectives such as regulating male and female fertility, arresting the growth of hormone-dependent mammary and prostate cancer, providing postmenopausal protection from bone demineralization, preventing prolonged and difficult delivery, characterizing substances within the environment that disrupt the reproductive system, and understanding the regulation of stem cells during gametogenesis.
The core of the training program is independent research. Predoctoral trainees also take courses in endocrinology and physiology of reproduction as well as related topics such as biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, immunology, and statistics before beginning independent research. Trainees and staff participate in weekly research conferences to discuss research proposals and progress. They also gain a solid understanding of research areas beyond that in which they are engaged by participating weekly in an advanced endocrinology seminar. Trainees attend and present papers at national scientific meetings. Scientists from other institutions visit our laboratories to consult with students and faculty and to present seminars. Faculty laboratories are capable of supporting a diverse training program because they are large, modern and well equipped. The University also provides the following modern research facilities that support biomedical research: Immunological Resource Center, Protein Sciences Facility (sequence determination, peptide synthesis and mass spectrometry), Flow Cytometry Facility, W. M. Keck Center for Comparative and Functional Genomics (microarray technologies, DNA sequencing, oligonucleotide synthesis, functional genomics, high throughput sequencing, and bioinformatics), Biomedical Imaging Center and the Center for Microscopic Imaging.