Nearly all animals exhibit behaviors that can be classified as sleep. The distinctly disadvantageous nature of the asleep state, evolutionarily speaking, accentuates its role as a critical physiological process, yet chronic inadequate sleep is prevalent in today’s society. Among the multitude of health problems that have been linked to chronic...
A variety of human diseases and pregnancy related disorders reflect endometrial dysfunction. However, rodent models do not share fundamental biological processes with the human endometrium, such as cyclic menstruation, and no existing human cell cultures recapitulate the cyclic interactions between endometrial stromal and epithelial compartments necessary for decidualization and implantation....
The protein homeostasis (proteostasis) network, a critical cytoprotective system that restores homeostasis in response to molecular stress, comprises distinct pathways, including the heat-shock response, unfolded protein response, oxidative stress response, and autophagy. These distinct pathways are all co-opted by tumor cells to cope with cancer-associated stress, and their activation in...
Uterine leiomyomas (fibroids) are a major source of gynaecologic morbidity in reproductive age women and are characterised by the excessive deposition of a disorganised extracellular matrix, resulting in rigid benign tumours. Clinically, leiomyoma patients usually present with pelvic pain, urinary incontinence, as well as heavy cyclic and non-cyclic bleeding. Curative...
Current biomaterials-based methods for in vitro ovarian follicle culture enable individual follicles or follicle classes to survive and carry out basic functions of the ovary, including hormone and release of mature oocytes upon gonadotropin stimulation. However, these current strategies do not support the survival and maturation of isolated primordial and...
The product of hexokinase (HK) enzymes, glucose-6-phosphate, can be metabolized through glycolysis or directed to alternative pathways, such as the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) to generate anabolic intermediates. HK1 contains an N-terminal domain that permits mitochondrial binding, but its physiologic significance remains unclear. We generated mice lacking the HK1 mitochondrial-binding...
Biological systems comprise diverse collections of cellular and non-cellular components with intricate relationships and dynamic interactions. To gain system-level understanding, we must be able to accurately model these systems, both experimentally and computationally. Agent-based models (ABMs) in particular are a uniquely intuitive, modular, and flexible framework capable of supporting multi-scale,...
Uterine leiomyoma (LM), the most common tumor of women, causes severe morbidity. LM cells can be separated into three molecularly and functionally distinct cell populations based on the expression pattern of CD34 and CD49b: stem (LSC, CD34+/CD49b+), intermediate (LIC, CD34+/CD49b-), and differentiated cells (LDC, CD34-/CD49b-). Progesterone via progesterone receptor (PR/PGR)...
Uterine leiomyomas (fibroids) are a major source of gynaecologic morbidity in reproductive age women and are characterised by the excessive deposition of a disorganised extracellular matrix, resulting in rigid benign tumours. Clinically, leiomyoma patients usually present with pelvic pain, urinary incontinence, as well as heavy cyclic and non-cyclic bleeding. Curative...
The planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea is capable of recovery from nearly any injury, including regenerating an entire brain after decapitation, made possible by a pool of pluripotent stem cells which maintain all of the worm’s tissues into adulthood. However, the signals that control the production of new neurons in these...