{"id":1798,"date":"2019-10-19T15:01:37","date_gmt":"2019-10-19T22:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/?p=1798"},"modified":"2019-10-20T11:37:17","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T18:37:17","slug":"monkeying-around-in-the-lab-to-find-a-good-egg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/2019\/10\/19\/monkeying-around-in-the-lab-to-find-a-good-egg\/","title":{"rendered":"Monkeying around in the lab to find a good egg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment is a procedure in\nwhich a woman\u2019s mature eggs are removed via surgery, combined with sperm in a\npetri dish in a lab, and then the fertilized egg is placed in the uterus to\ncontinue growing into an embryo. Unfortunately, IVF is not covered by all\ninsurance companies and is successful less than 50% of the time. Consequently,\nundergoing IVF can be a significant burden financially, physically, and\nemotionally for those who seek out this procedure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What makes a \u201cgood\u201d fertilizable egg? In this week’s special episode, we’re joined by Sweta Ravisankar, a 5th<\/sup> year PhD candidate in the Cell and Developmental Biology program at OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University), who is trying to answer this question in hopes that being able to screen for the \u201cmore likely to succeed\u201d eggs, will lower the economic, financial, and physical hurtles of IVF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweta works at the at Oregon National Primate Research Center, OHSU within the division of\nReproductive and Developmental Sciences OHSU. She is a graduate student\nmentored jointly by Dr Shawn\nChavez and Dr. Jon D. Hennebold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hennebold lab studies reproduction before<\/em> the egg\nis fertilized. This stage involves studying the female reproductive system, the\noocyte (egg) itself, and the development of the follicle (region that holds the\nimmature eggs) before ovulation (dropping of immature egg into the ovary). In\ncontrast, the Chavez lab looks at what happens after<\/em> fertilization such\nas chromosome abnormalities and how these abnormalities effect embryo\ndevelopment. This joint mentorship allows Sweta to study a more complete story\nof development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Screenshot from a video of development from 1C stage to a blastocyst stage. Complex human being development can be traced back to these 120-150 cells implanting in the uterus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sweta is always excited to share her science!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Looking at reproduction\nfrom these two perspectives allows Sweta to correlate the environment the egg\nexists in with how the embryo develops. For example, what is the impact of a\nwestern style diet (high in fat) on the biochemistry and development of\nfollicles and embryos long term? How does polycystic ovarian morphology (POM) mimicked by\nprolonged exposure to high fat diet and high testosterone levels in females impact reproductive\nsuccess at the biomolecular level? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Will work when needed: in the lab on a weekend with a cast on my foot (visible on the left leg).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Being at the Oregon\nNational Primate Center, Sweta\u2019s model organism is the \u201cRhesus macaque\u201d monkey. These monkeys\nhave a genome ~97.5% similar to humans, meaning that the work she does is very\nrelevant and translatable to humans. Working with the monkeys also means that\nher research is variable depending on the day. The monkeys will sometimes\nundergo treatments similar to those done in human IVF (in vitro fertilization)\nclinics, including surgeries to collect eggs for further research. After\nharvesting these eggs, they can be fertilized and the cells\u2019 growth, division,\nand development can be monitored in a plate. When these experiments are not\ntaking place, Sweta conducts various molecular biology experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sweta has become a true Pacific northwestener: hiking in rain with her husband through the Washington Park, Portland, OR. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

          <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In India, Sweta completed her Bachelor\u2019s degree at Dr. D. Y. Patil university in biotechnology and her first Master\u2019s at SRM Institute of Science and Technology. During this time, Sweta happened to have several of family and friends undergoing IVF treatments and also worked in a fertility clinic for a time, bringing her attention to scientific needs within this field. Sweta then completed a second Master\u2019s in Biological Sciences with a fellowship from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and fell in love with fertility-related research during an internship at Stanford where she worked on embryo development. Her passion for this field of research led her to OHSU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to a being an accomplished researcher, Sweta is also an accomplished Indian Classical Dancer! She teaches bharatanatyam dance classes out of her home and travels around the US to perform. Long term, she hopes to continue research and also run a dance company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sweta will be\npresenting a piece on “depression” to work towards mental health\nawareness October 25th\nthrough 27th. The\npiece will be in Bharatanatyam and presented as a part of the 12th\nresidency performance at N.E.W. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweta writes her own blog posts about her journey through grad school which can be found here: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. https:\/\/blogs.ohsu.edu\/studentspeak\/2017\/09\/11\/it-is-possible-to-make-sad-not-even-seasonal\/<\/a><\/li>
  2. https:\/\/blogs.ohsu.edu\/studentspeak\/2018\/07\/24\/phd-is-more-than-your-research\/<\/a><\/li>
  3. https:\/\/blogs.ohsu.edu\/studentspeak\/2019\/04\/18\/never-give-up-there-is-a-bright-day-out-there-drudnischay\/<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    To hear more about Sweta\u2019s graduate work,\npersonal struggles, and classical Indian dance moves, tune in on Sunday,\nOctober 20th<\/sup> at 7 PM on KBVR\n88.7 FM, live stream the show at http:\/\/www.orangemedianetwork.com\/kbvr_fm\/<\/a>,\nor download our podcast on iTunes<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment is a procedure in which a woman\u2019s mature eggs are removed via surgery, combined with sperm in a petri dish in a lab, and then the fertilized egg is placed in the uterus to continue growing into an embryo. Unfortunately, IVF is not covered by all insurance companies and is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9274,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[742798],"tags":[492358],"class_list":["post-1798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-molecular-and-cell-biology","tag-ohsu"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9274"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1798"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1811,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798\/revisions\/1811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}