The womb, ovaries, and testes can bounce back from injury or stress in ways that other organs cannot—and scientists want to know how. Reproductive tissues have a unique ability to repair and regenerate themselves, but the mechanisms behind this resilience remain poorly understood. This Centre will link biologists studying tissue repair in the reproductive system with clinicians working on stem cells, inflammation, and fetal growth in the brain, liver, lungs, and kidneys. The goal is to uncover the fundamental biological processes that allow these tissues to withstand challenges such as obesity and stress. If successful, this work could lead to new treatments for infertility, heavy periods, premature birth, and low birth weight. But the findings may also apply beyond reproduction—to diseases like cirrhosis and cancer, where tissue regeneration fails. Understanding how reproductive tissues renew themselves could offer lessons for repairing the liver, brain, and blood vessels. This is primarily fundamental science. It asks how resilient tissues work at a cellular and molecular level. Past discoveries in stem cell biology and regeneration have already transformed medicine; this Centre aims to lay similar groundwork for future therapies.
View original technical description
Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all life, essential for the continuation of our species. The birth of a healthy baby represents the culmination of a remarkable series of events and a defining moment in our progress towards ?living a long and healthy life?. The reproductive tissues that provide the platform for our fertility and nurture a successful pregnancy are characterised by their remarkable ?resilience? ? namely their ability to withstand or recover quickly from ?challenges? that might otherwise have an adverse impact on their function. Other tissues cannot usually show such resilience. Our new Centre will link scientists studying the ways in which reproductive tissues regenerate, repair and renew themselves enabling them to withstand the impacts of our modern lifestyle including stress and obesity, with teams of doctors and scientists who are focusing their research on stem cell biology, tissue regeneration, inflammation and fetal growth in the brain, liver, lung and kidney. This multidisciplinary approach will ensure we can apply our research findings to the development of new therapies for common reproductive problems such as infertility, heavy periods, premature birth, low birth weight, but also that they are applied towards therapies for diseases that affect the liver, brain, lung and vascular system such as cirrhosis and cancer. Crucially, we will train the next generation of basic and clinician scientists in reproductive medicine and its broader exploitation and communicate our new and exciting research findings to the general public, through our public lecture and schools outreach programmes.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know