Teresa K. Woodruff, PhD

Thomas J. Watkins Professor
Obstetrics and Gynecology

Regulation of Ovarian Follicle Growth during the Mammalian Reproductive Cycles

Curricula:
Cancer Biology
Developmental Biology
Molecular Biology and Genetics

E-mail:   tkw@northwestern.edu

To visit the Woodruff lab web site, click here.

The Woodruff lab explores three main areas of study. 

The first is ovarian follicle development, the study of the formation and maturation of the ovarian follicle, which is the basic functional unit of the ovary. The follicle includes somatic cells (which make hormones like estrogen and inhibin) and the oocyte (or egg). We are attempting to isolate the factors that regulate follicle and oocyte maturation and to understand the mechanisms of follicle and oocyte survival and death.

The second focus of the Woodruff Lab is to develop an in vitro follicle culture systems that can mimic the normal in vivo patterns of follicle development. The end goal of this research is to allow us to successfully remove healthy ovarian tissue from a cancer patient, safely store it until the patient has completed their treatment, and then to either harvest follicles from the tissue in an effort to grow them, or surgically transplant the tissue to restore natural ovulation.

Our third area of study is on the endocrine hormones inhibin and activin, which govern the reproductive cycle. Work on these hormones is essential to an understanding of healthy reproductive cyclicity and on the treatment of infertility.

Selected Publications:

Antenos M, Zhu J, Jetly NM, Woodruff TK. 2008.  An activin/furin regulatory loop modulates the processing and secretion of inhibin alpha- and betaB-subunit dimers in pituitary gonadotrope cells. J Biol Chem. Nov 28;283(48):33059-68.  (Selected as ‘editors choice’ Science. 2008)  PMCID: PMC2568270

West-Farrell ER, Xu M, Gomberg MA, Chow YH, Woodruff TK, Shea LD.  2009 [Epub in 2008].  The Mouse Follicle Microenvironment Regulates Antrum Formation and Steroid Production: Alterations in Gene Expression Profiles. Biol Reprod. Mar; 80(3): 432-9.  NIHMSID: NIHMS94397.

Dolin G, Roberts DE, Rodriguez LM, & Woodruff TK.  2009. Medical Hope, Legal Pitfalls: Potential Legal Issues in the Emerging Field of Oncofertility.  Santa Clara Law Review.  49(3): 673-716.

Trombly DJ, Woodruff TK, Mayo KE.  2009 [Epub in 2008].  Suppression of Notch Signaling in the Neonatal Mouse Ovary Decreases Primordial Follicle Formation.  Endocrinology.  Feb;150(2): 1014-24.  PMCID: PMC2646529.

Roh J, Bae J, Lee K, Mayo K, Shea L, Woodruff TK.  2009.  Regulation of Wilms’ tumor gene expression by nerve growth factor and follicle-stimulating hormone in the immature mouse ovary. Fertil Steril. Apr;91(4 Suppl): 1451-4. NIHMSID: NIHMS127791. 

Do TV, Kubba LA, Du H, Sturgis CD, Woodruff TK.  2008. Transforming growth factor-beta1, transforming growth factor-beta2, and transforming growth factor-beta3 enhance ovarian cancer metastatic potential by inducing a Smad3-dependent epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Mol Cancer Res. May;6(5):695-705.  PMID: 18505915

Xu M, Banc A, Woodruff TK, Shea LD.  2009.  Secondary follicle growth and oocyte maturation by culture in alginate hydrogel following cropreservation of the ovary or individual follicles.  Biotechnol Bioeng.  Jun 1;103(2):378-86

Trombly DJ, Woodruff TK, Mayo KE.  2009.  Roles for transforming growth factor beta superfamily proteins in early folliculogenesis.  Semin. Reprod. Med.  Jan; 27(1): 14-23. 

Jeruss JS, Woodruff TK, 2009.  Preservation of Fertility in Patients with Cancer.  N Engl J Med.  Feb 26. 360(9):902-911. 

Tingen CM, Bristol-Gould SK, Kiesewetter SE, Wellington JT, Shea L, Woodruff TK.  2009.  Prepubertal primordial follicle loss in mice is not due to classical apoptotic pathways.  Biol. Reprod.  Jul;81(1):16-25 .  PMID: 19264701

PubMed website View Publications by Teresa Woodruff listed in the National Library of Medicine (PubMed).

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