Research at the Department of OBGYN & Reproductive Sciences
Research is conducted in a wide variety of areas within the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences. The Department participates in prestigious and nationally recognized studies such as the Women's Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) Program, the Postdoctoral Training in Reproductive Sciences Program, and the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network. In 2024, we ranked 5th in the nation among departments of Ob/Gyn in NIH funded research.
Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research
Get a glimpse of the research of individual faculty and groups of faculty who have research programs that explore development, regulation, and control at the molecular, cellular, organ and system levels in the reproductive areas. We have 10 Ph.D. faculty members who are devoted to unlocking the mysteries of reproductive medicine throughout a woman's life span.
UC San Diego Perinatal Biorepository
The UC San Diego Perinatal Biorepository provides access to resources for clinical and translational studies on human pregnancy. High quality biospecimens and clinical data from rigorously adjudicated healthy and complicated pregnancies are available to investigators at UC San Diego and other institutions. For prospective studies, assistance with study design and preparation of regulatory documents, study subject recruitment and enrollment, and a variety of study procedures are available.
The Biorepository currently contains:
- Placental tissue samples compatible with molecular and histologic studies for over 2,500 cases.
- Maternal serum, plasma, and urine from over 1,000 cases.
- Cord blood (serum and plasma) from over 300 cases.
Analytical services available include:
- Detailed histological evaluation of placental tissue.
- Nucleic acid extraction from tissue and biofluid samples.
- Next-generation sequencing library preparation (including small RNAseq, long RNAseq, single-cell RNAseq, whole genome DNAseq, and whole genome bisulfite sequencing).
- Analysis of next-generation sequencing data.
The Biorepository is co-directed by Drs. Louise Laurent and Mana Parast. Dr. Laurent is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine subspecialist with expertise in genomics, stem cell biology, and extracellular RNA biomarker discovery. Dr. Parast is a Perinatal Pathologist with expertise in placental and stem cell biology.
Get a Glimpse of the Research
Cook-Andersen
Lukacz
Schlaepfer Lab