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Your Environment. Your Health.

Environmental Causes of Infertility

Study Background

This study will use menstrual fluid as a source of endometrial cells for deriving primary cultures of stromal cells and epithelial cell organoids. Use of menstrual fluid samples will provide a non-invasive source of endometrial cells, as opposed to uterine biopsies, which require women to undergo clinical procedures. Recently, the use of cells isolated from human menstrual samples has served as an effective means of collecting endometrial stroma and epithelial cell for research.

We will use cultured primary endometrial cells to:

  1. Quantify PFAS in menstrual fluid and in circulation.
  2. Classify samples as high or low PFAS, treat organoids with hormones or induce decidualization in stromal cells, and analyze response.
  3. Stimulate blood with a pathogen-associated molecular pattern and quantify immune response.

Principal Investigator

Stavros Garantziotis, M.D.
Stavros Garantziotis, M.D.
Medical Director, NIEHS Clinical Research Unit
Tel 984-287-4412
Fax 919-541-9854
garantziotis@niehs.nih.gov
P.O. Box 12233
Mail Drop CU-01
Durham, N.C. 27709
Dr. Francesco DeMayo
Francesco J. Demayo, Ph.D.
Chief, Reproductive & Developmental Biology Laboratory and Principal Investigator
Tel 984-287-3987
francesco.demayo@nih.gov
P.O. Box 12233
Mail Drop B3-02
Durham, N.C. 27709
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