September 2023
Yi Athena Ren, PhD (Assistant Professor in the department of Animal Science) and Iwijn De Vlaminck, PhD (Associate Professor at the Menig School of Biomedical Engineering) shared resources and new insights into ovarian biology last month with their new manuscript, titled “A Spatiotemporal Molecular Atlas of the Ovulating Mouse Ovary.”
In regard to these findings, Dr. Ren shared, “Ovulation is a complex process that involves extensive molecular, cellular and structural changes in distinct compartments in ovarian follicles, which culminate in follicle wall rupture and release of oocytes for fertilization. Successful ovulation is predicated on precise coordination and interaction between cell types within the ovary, both temporally and spatially.” This manuscript presents, as Dr. Ren describes it, ” a pioneering application of spatial transcriptomics at single-cell resolution coupled with high temporal resolution to map out the cell-type- and follicle-growth-stage-specific molecular programs that are important for ovarian follicle maturation and ovulation in mice.”
The feature photograph for this article showcases this exciting data, showing spatial transcriptomic maps of both normal mouse ovaries and ovaries affected by hormone-controlled ovulation. For more details on this image, see Figure I of this transcript, “Spatial transcriptomics profiling of murine ovaries undergoing hormone-induced ovulation.”
