Reproductive Sciences
Ong receives Igniting interdisciplinary Innovation grant
Congratulations to Irene Ong, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, who received an Igniting interdisciplinary Innovation (I3) award from the University of Wisconsin–Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research! Ong received the $250,000 grant for the project From AI Innovation to Clinical Impact: Closing the Gap for Reliable AI-based Dise...
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Graduation Spotlight: Logan Keding graduates from ERP Program
Congratulations to Logan Keding, PhD, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology program! Keding’s PhD thesis focused on Placental Insufficiency in the Macaque Model; his mentor was Aleks Stanic-Kostic, MD, PhD, professor and director of the Division of Reproductive Sciences. In advance of graduation, Keding shared some r...
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Congratulations, 2026 UW Department of Ob-Gyn award winners!
On June 18, 2026, the UW Department of Ob-Gyn held its annual awards ceremony, recognizing educational, research and administrative accomplishments throughout the year.Years of ServiceFive Years:Jasmin Barthel, Physician AssistantMichael Beninati, Assistant Professor (CHS)Emma Blazel, Medical Program AssistantCheryl Casey’Grant, Outreach SpecialistAbigail Cutler, Assistant P...
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Graduation Spotlight: Sejal Sharma graduates from ERP program
Congratulations to Sejal Sharma, who graduates from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology program this year! Sharma's PhD thesis focused on developing a combination therapy of OXPHOS inhibitors with cancer vaccines for treatment of ovarian cancer; her mentor was Manish Patankar, PhD, professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences.I...
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Willging, former Abbott Lab mentee, receives Endocrine Society Outstanding Abstract Award
The Endocrine Society hosted ENDO 2026 in Chicago June 13-26, 2026. Molly Willging, PhD, former mentee in the lab of David Abbott, PhD, professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, earned an Outstanding Abstract Award at the conference.Willging, who is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, received the award for t...
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Zheng publishes study in Journal of Cellular Physiology
Jing Zheng, PhD, professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, recently published an article in the Journal of Cellular Physiology. Co-authors on the study include Si-yan Zhang, Colman Freel, and Chi Zhou, PhD.Sexually Dimorphic Regulation of MiR-29a/c-3p in Human Endothelial Cells: Cell Functions and Transcriptome builds on the team’s recent reports in the journal Cli...
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Mohamed and Stanic Lab team publish study in American Journal of Reproductive Immunology
Mona Mohamed, PhD candidate in the Stanic Lab, is first author on a new article published in the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology. Co-authors include Yan Li, Andrea Wegrzynowicz, PhD, Payton Lindner, Jessica Vazquez, PhD, Gladys Lopez, and Aleks Stanic, MD, PhD. In the study T-bet Fate Mapping Reveals Gestational Stage-Specific Transcriptional Adaptation of Decidu...
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Mañán Mejías receives UW Carbone Cancer Center Minter Graduate Student Cancer Research Award
Congratulations to Paula Mañán Mejías, graduate student in the lab of María Virumbrales-Muñoz, PhD! Mañán Mejías was selected as the 2026 recipient of the UW Carbone Cancer Center’s Thomas and Bonnie Minter Graduate Student Cancer Research Award. Mañán Mejías will use the award to attend the 2027 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, wh...
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Wegrzynowicz publishes in Biology of Reproduction
Andrea Wegrzynowicz, PhD, postdoctoral trainee in the Division of Reproductive Sciences and the Stanic Lab, is lead author on a new study in Biology of Reproduction that was featured as a BoR Editor’s Choice article in the Society for the Study of Reproduction monthly newsletter! Co-authors on the study include Soma Banerjee, Emily Grimes, Riley Huddleston, Fernanda Leyva Ja...
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Berube receives Postdoctoral Research Award from Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Huge congratulations to Michael Berube, DVM, PhD, who received the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research! Berube is a postdoctoral research associate in the labs of Lisa Barroilhet, MD, MS, associate professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and María Virumbrales-Muñoz, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Reproduct...
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Department of Ob-Gyn mentees share research at 2026 UW–Madison Undergraduate Symposium
Undergraduate student researchers mentored by faculty in the UW Department of Ob-Gyn brought nine posters and three oral presentations to the 2026 UW–Madison Undergraduate Symposium on April 17, 2026.The annual Undergraduate Symposium showcases undergraduate creativity, achievement, research, service-learning and community-based research from all areas of study at UW–Madison...
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Aurora Swissdorf in Virumbrales-Muñoz Lab receives Sophomore Research Fellowship
Aurora Swissdorf, a first-year undergraduate student in the Virumbrales-Muñoz Lab, was awarded a University of Wisconsin–Madison Sophomore Research Fellowship! Swissdorf, who is double-majoring in biochemistry and mathematics, joined the Virumbrales-Muñoz Lab in the fall of 2025. The Sophomore Research Fellowship provides students and labs resources to support an independent...
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Ong published in Proceedings of the 20th Machine Learning in Computational Biology meeting
Irene Ong, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, published a manuscript in the Proceedings of the 20th Machine Learning in Computational Biology meeting, co-authored with biomedical data science PhD student Tapanmitra Ravi. In the article "TCR-ECHO: Evolutionary Cross-attention with Physicochemical Bias for Hierarchical TCR-Peptide Binding Predic...
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Division of Reproductive Sciences brings research to SRI 2026 annual meeting
The Society for Reproductive Investigation hosted the 73rd annual scientific meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico March 24-28, 2026. Faculty and researchers from the UW Department of Ob-Gyn Division of Reproductive Sciences shared their work at the conference. Just some of their exciting accomplishments: Oral Abstracts: Placenta Session - Transcriptional Landscape of the Macaque...
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Ellinore Letts, undergrad in Virumbrales-Muñoz Lab, receives Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowship
Congratulations to Ellinore Letts, an undergraduate student in the Virumbrales-Muñoz Lab, who was selected for a Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowship! Ellinore is currently a junior majoring in Biomedical Engineering. The Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowship supports undergraduates to complete an independent research project under the mentorship ...
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Bhagavath, Patankar discuss endometriosis with Badger Herald
Bala Bhagavath, MD, professor and director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, and Manish Patankar, PhD, professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, spoke with the Badger Herald about endometriosis in honor of Endometriosis Awareness Month. In “During endometriosis awareness month, experts detail disease, current research”, Bhagavath and Pa...
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Virumbrales-Muñoz receives Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research Fall Research Competition award
Congratulations to María Virumbrales-Muñoz, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences! Virumbrales-Muñoz received a Fall Research Competition award from the UW–Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research! The $66,000 award will support the project Immune-endothelial interactions in preeclampsia-associated vascular dysfunction. The award period ...
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Virumbrales-Muñoz selected for BIRCWH program
Congratulations to María Virumbrales-Muñoz, PhD, MS, assistant professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, who is one of just three scholars selected for the 2025-27 cohort of the UW Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program! Virumbrales-Muñoz began the two-year appointment on November 1, 2025. The BIRCWH award will support Virumb...
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Shapiro Summer Research students present Ob-Gyn-mentored projects at 2025 Research Forum
Students participating in the 2025 Shapiro Summer Research Program presented their work at the Annual Medical Student Research Forum on November 24, 2025. Students and their impressive presentations include: Alyssa Solberg, mentored by Kara Hoppe, DO, PhD: Trends in Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Highlight Persistent Racial and Rural-Urban Disparities: A Statewide Analy...
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Stanic-Kostic to become director of the Division of Reproductive Sciences and Vice Chair for Basic and Translational Research
Aleks Stanic-Kostic, MD, PhD, will become Director of the Division of Reproductive Sciences and Vice Chair of Basic and Translational Research, effective January 1, 2026. He will take on these roles when Manish Patankar, PhD, steps down from these two roles to become the Senior Director of SMPH Shared Resources. Dr. Patankar has served as Director of the Division of Reproduc...
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Ong receives Meriter Foundation grant
Congratulations to Irene Ong, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, who received a 2026 Research and Education grant from the UnityPoint Health Meriter Foundation! Ong received a one-year grant for $99,997 to support a project aimed at predicting high-risk term and postpartum preeclampsia using UW Health and UnityPoint Health-Meriter Hospital ele...
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Patankar receives grant from Meriter Foundation for endometriosis research
Congratulations to Manish Patankar, PhD, director of the Division of Reproductive Sciences, who received a 2026 Research and Education grant from the UnityPoint Health Meriter Foundation! The grant will fund the project “Targeting metabolic vulnerabilities: a non-hormonal approach for the treatment of the chronic reproductive disorder, endometriosis.” Patankar and the resear...
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Trainees in the Stanic Lab present at Upper Midwest Summit for Reproductive Science
Trainees in the Stanic Lab brought their research to the Upper Midwest Summit for Reproductive Science last month! The summit was held at Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago October 13-14, 2025. The summit brings together trainees, junior and senior faculty, and other research staff and scientists from institutions across the upper Midwest region to foster the exchange of k...
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Stanic, Cooney research groups publish in Reproduction
The Stanic-Cooney research teams recently published a new article in Reproduction, led by co-first authors Andrea Wegrzynowicz, PhD (postdoctoral fellow with Drs. Stanic & Cooney) and Christina Dudley, MD (UW Ob-Gyn resident, who recently matched for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (REI) fellowship at Cedar-Sinai program in LA), with senior mentorship from Laura C...
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Barroilhet, Patankar receive UW Carbone Cancer Center pilot grant
Congratulations to Lisa Barroilhet, MD, MS, director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and Manish Patankar, PhD, director of the Division of Reproductive Sciences! They recently received pilot funding from the UW Carbone Cancer Center to study new immunotherapeutic agent for ovarian cancer. The project "Investigating fusokine IL-6/1 as a novel immunotherapeutic agent ...
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Vazquez, de Faria Oliveira awarded NIH Loan Repayment Program grants
Jessica Vazquez, PhD, scientist in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, and Gabriela de Faria Oliveira PhD, postdoctoral trainee in the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, successfully competed for NIH-funded loan repayment program (LRP) awards this summer. These awards put up to $50,000 annually toward qualified educational debt, in exchange for their continued NI...
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Bird and co-authors publish study in Journal of Molecular Endocrinology
Ian Bird, PhD, professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences, is senior author on a new paper published in the Journal of Molecular Endocrinology. Co-authors include: Rachel Dahn, PhD; Beth Lett, PhD; Luca Clemente, PhD; Jason Austin; Fuxian Yi; Derek Boeldt, PhD; Aleks Stanic-Kostic, MD, PhD; and Irene Ong, PhD. “Single-cell analysis of uterine artery endothelial cell...
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Stanic Lab publishes in Frontiers in Immunology
Aleksander Stanic, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Divisions of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and Reproductive Sciences, recently co-authored a publication published in Frontiers in Immunology. Soma Banerjee, PhD, currently a postdoctoral scholar in the iPEND program, was first author on the publication. Co-authors include Fernanda Leyva Jaimes; Mona Mohamed...
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