FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT AND OVARIAN CANCER

March 27, 2022

The female reproductive tract (FRT), including the oviduct, uterus, cervix and upper part of vagina, and its embryonic primordium, the Mullerian duct (MD) are a unique sexual duct structure in vertebrates. We are particularly interested in the oviduct (or also called fallopian tubes /uterine hones). Although this organ is essential for internal fertilization, our knowledge of development and reproductive roles are very limited. In addition, it has been recently recognized as the origin of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma (HGSOC), that is the most common type of ovarian cancer and has high mortality rates. In order to understand HGSOC and develop novel innovative therapeutic approaches, I believe that basic understanding of the organ like cellular heterogeneity and homeostasis are essential. As this is in our mind, we developed our unique somatic cancer modeling strategy, in a combination of in vivo electroporation, Cre-mediated lineage tracing and CRISPR-mediated genome editing.