My laboratory studies the role of androgens in ovarian development and pathology. We would like to delineate the signaling pathways involved in ovarian steroid production as well as the signaling pathways triggered by steroids in the ovary. We hope that our studies will lead to a better understanding of ovarian disease states such as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), one of the leading causes of infertility in young women. In addition, we are interested in studying nongenomic, or transcription-independent signaling by steroids. We study this signaling phenomenon in the context of steroid-mediated oocyte maturation as well as in other systems. Finally, our laboratory is interested in studying the enzyme CYP17, which plays a critical role in the synthesis of androgens in the adrenal glands and ovary. We would like to learn more about its enzymatic activities, as well as its role in ovarian androgen production, which appears to be necesssary for normal oocyte development and female fertility.
