Save the date for the 2026 Reproductive Aging - PSRM Satellite Joint Conference! July 16-17, 2027, CHA Bio Complex, Korea This event is co-organized by Dr. Francesca Elizabeth Duncan. Registration link coming soon!

Members of the Duncan Lab presented at the 2026 Pacific Coast Reproductive Society Meeting in Palm Springs, CA on March 18-22, 2026. Visit our lab website to learn more about their presentations! labs.feinberg.northwestern.edu/duncan/news/...

Congratulations to Anna Heinrich on receiving an F31 grant from the NICHD for her project "The requirement and function of metabolic activity in cumulus cells during late stages of ovulation." We are so proud of Anna for this well-deserved accomplishment!

Congratulations to Prianka Hashim on this honor!

Dr. Francesca Duncan and Dr. Elnur Babayev have published a Perspectives article in Science on "The ovarian stroma as a therapeutic target." Check it out! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Congratulations to the newly minted Reva Marwah, MS, and Tania Castro Modesto, MS on expertly defending their theses projects! We look forward to watching their career trajectories soar!

@mhr-reprodsci.bsky.social is seeking an Associate Editor for Social Media and Engagement! This position is open to senior graduate students (MS or PhD levels), post-doctoral fellows, early career scientists Apply by March 1

Congrats to Anna Heinrich on receiving 1st place in the 2026 International Embryo Transfer Society graduate student competition! Anna presented her work on "Advanced reproductive age is associated with changes in ovarian architecture in the South African cheetah" at the IETS meeting in Panama.

CRS Co-Director Dr. Francesca Duncan, and CRS faculty members Dr. Kara Goldman and Dr. Monica Laronda were featured in this New York Times article! Check it out! www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/h...

Congratulations to Prianka Hashim on her induction into the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society! This society pays homage to Dr. Edward A. Bouchet, the first African American doctoral recipient in the US, by recognizing outstanding scholarly achievement in doctoral education.

A new Duncan Lab publication! Congratulations to Dr. Hannes Campo, Prianka Hashim, and Dr. Emily Zaniker-Gomez for turning their micromold technology for culturing follicles into a methods paper in JoVE to make sure this technique is more broadly accessible! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41212809/

Happy New Year from the Duncan and Babayev Labs! We are looking forward to a terrific 2026!

Dr. Duncan was interviewed for this article on fertility in the New York Times! Check it out! www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/w...

The Duncan and Babayev labs wish everyone a very happy and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Dr. Francesca Duncan and Dr. Hannes Campo received a 2025 Human Advanced In Vitro Model Initiative (HUMAIN) Award! 🎉 Their project aims to create the first human-based ovary–liver co-culture model to study and reverse age-related ovarian fibrosis. www.pcrm.org/news/news-re...

@MHR_ReprodSci Associate Editors attended the Upper Midwest Summit for Reproductive Science, representing our journal! Great science and networking opportunity! 🤩 Nardhy Gomez-Lopez Sara Pietroforte Farners Amargant Riera Francesca Duncan WashU Medicine OBGYN Northwestern Medicine

Dr. Francesca Duncan was interviewed in a segment on the TODAY Show this morning, highlighting her research on ovarian aging at @nu-crs.bsky.social and @buckinstitute.org Check out the story to learn more about longevity for women! www.today.com/video/why-ov...

The Duncan Lab showed a strong presence at the Upper Midwest Summit for Reproductive Science, held at Northwestern on October 13 and 14. Prianka Hashim was co-chair and Caroline Kratka won an award for Best Poster. See the full list of the posters: labs.feinberg.northwestern.edu/duncan/news/...

Organoid models are the way of the future! Check out the Duncan Lab's ovarian somatic organoid model that was highlighted in this exciting News Feature in Nature on the power of reproductive organoids! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Dr. Duncan was thrilled to be in Suzhou, China attending the Cold Spring Harbor Asia meeting on Stem Cells, Rejuvenation, and Aging. She shared brand new data on how we can harness new mechanisms of ovarian aging for therapeutic potential!

Members of the Duncan Lab participated in the 19th Annual Lewis Landsberg Research Day held at NU. Dylan Hakken was shortlisted as a finalist for the Best Poster award in the Basic Science Research category. Read more about the presentations: labs.feinberg.northwestern.edu/duncan/news/...

Congratulations to Dr. Francesca Duncan and Dr. Hannes Campo on receiving an R03 award for their project "Improving egg quality through an engineered biomimetic follicular microenvironment."

Congratulations to Prianka Hashim on receiving an F31 award for her project "Active surveillance of oocyte quality is moderated by the cGAS-STING pathway."

Dr. Duncan recently participated in a webinar on "Women’s health: insights in research and inclusion," presented by Chemistry World. If you missed the live event, check out the recording: www.chemistryworld.com/webinars/wom...

Congratulations to Anna Heinrich on receiving a Cornerstone Grant from @histochemicalsoc.bsky.social! This award will support Anna's project “Functional and histological analysis of ovarian tissue from the South African Cheetah." www.histochemicalsociety.org/2025-corners...

Dr. Francesca Duncan will speak on this virtual webinar on "Women’s health: insights in research and inclusion" Learn more and register for the event on August 28! www.chemistryworld.com/webinars/wom...

Investigators led by Francesca Duncan, PhD, @nuduncanlab.bsky.social, have discovered new molecular mechanisms that lead specialized immune cells to cause ovarian aging and functional decline, per a recent study in @plosbiology.org. news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2025/07/21/n... #healthspan

New Publication! Congratulations to Caroline Kratka and her collaborators on their manuscript which interrogates ovulation in the mouse at high spatiotemporal resolution! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

New Publication! Congrats to Dr. Aubrey Converse on her manuscript which uses innovative approaches to define the transcriptomic signature of ovarian multinucleated giant cells and provide novel insight into the role of this cell population in ovarian aging! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Congratulations to Caroline Kratka on her manuscript which interrogates ovulation in the mouse at high spatiotemporal resolution! This work features single cell and spatial datasets which will be a tremendous resource to the field! Learn more: engineering.dartmouth.edu/news/dartmou...

Dr. Francesca Duncan and Dr. Kara Goldman were featured in this USA Today on ovarian aging and reproductive longevity! www.usatoday.com/story/graphi...

Dr. Duncan was featured in this USA Today article about ovarian aging! Check it out! www.usatoday.com/story/graphi...

Tomorrow‼️‼️ Register today for the first SPARK panel, "Human Biospecimen Repositories Fueling Translational Reproductive Science and Medicine Research" Learn about panelist Dr. Toni Frolova's research: bit.ly/4l5JmfJ Register: www.upsquad.com/event/regist...

Congratulations to Lauren Haky for passing her qualifying exam and being an official PhD candidate in the Duncan Lab!

We are very proud of Dylan for receiving the Marcia L. Storch Scholarship for Undergraduate Students! Dylan is working on a project developing a vascularized microfluidic model of ovarian aging to evaluate non-hormonal contraceptives.

Congratulations to Maddie Perry on graduating from the MS-RSM program! Maddie's primary thesis mentor was Dr. Aubrey Converse. We are so proud of Maddie and all she has accomplished during her time in the Duncan Lab! 🎓🎉

Many congratulations to Dr. Emily Zaniker-Gomez, PhD, on receiving her degree from the Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences!

New Duncan Lab publication! Congratulations to Pooja Devrukhkar along with her co-first authors (Mark Watson and Bikem Soygur) on their manuscript defining and mapping an induced cellular senescence signature in the post-menopausal human ovary! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New Duncan Lab publication! Congratulations to Emma Gargus and Rhea Sharma and their co-authors on elucidating how caloric restriction impacts markers of ovarian function and aging in the rhesus macaque! www.aging-us.com/article/2062...

Join SPARK's first panel, Human Biospecimen Repositories Fueling Translational Reproductive Science and Medicine Research. CRS faculty participants include panelist Dr. Mary Ellen Pavone and moderator Dr. Francesca Duncan www.upsquad.com/event/regist...

Emily Zaniker-Gomez will present her public thesis defense, "Molecular and Biomechanical Mechanisms Underlying Ovulation" this Friday! We're excited to celebrate all her accomplishments!

The Duncan Lab and the Center for Reproductive Science were well represented at the 2025 Reproductive Aging Conference! Read more: labs.feinberg.northwestern.edu/duncan/news/...

Dr. Duncan discussed why reproductive aging matters for business and society in Forbes! www.forbes.com/sites/geekgi...

Reproductive Aging Conference 2025 has been kicked off by organizers Jennifer Garrison from Buck, Yousin Suh from Columbia University, and Francesca Duncan from Northwestern University, in San Jose, CA. Jennifer gave inspiring introductory notes and now on to several days of great research!

Meet the Speakers for the 2025 Reproductive Aging Conference! ✔️Rebecca Robker, PhD ✔️Vittorio Sebastiano, PhD ✔️Maria Teves, PhD ✔️Xiaoqiu (Churchill) Wang, PhD ✔️Mary Zelinski, PhD Final day to register for #ReproAging2025! www.reproductiveagingconference.com

Registration and abstract submission for the 2025 Upper Midwest Summit for Reproductive Science is now open! This year's theme is "Next-Gen Reproduction: Shaping the Future of Reproductive Science and Medicine." Register today: northwesterncrs.wufoo.com/forms/qsyr2u...

Dr. Duncan enjoyed presenting her work "Ovarian stiffness as a biomarker and therapeutic target for ovarian aging" at the 11th IVI-RMA conference in Barcelona, Spain. She is grateful to the organizing committee and Dr. Irene Cervello for the opportunity to participate in such an exciting meeting!

Meet the Speakers for the 2025 Reproductive Aging Conference! ✔️ Aileen Keating, PhD ✔️ T. Rajendra Kumar, PhD ✔️ Sarah Ocanas, PhD ✔️ David Pepin, PhD Register by May 1 to be part of #ReproAging2025! www.reproductiveagingconference.com @pepinlab.bsky.social @ocanassr.bsky.social

Meet the speakers for the 2025 Reproductive Aging Conference! ✔️ Mike Garrett, PhD ✔️ Veronica Gomez-Lobo, MD ✔️ Kathryn Grive, PhD ✔️ Eva Hoffmann, PhD Don't miss out on this unique meeting! www.reproductiveagingconference.com @jennifergarrison.bsky.social @buckinstitute.org

Please join us in congratulating the new Dr. Emily Zaniker-Gomez on successfully defending her PhD thesis entitled: Molecular and Biomechanical Mechanisms Underlying Ovulation. We are excited to watch her career trajectory continue to soar as she returns to medical school to finish her MD!