Research
Focus Areas
We bring together experts from different fields to provide an integrated, interdisciplinary and wholistic perspective in the following focus areas:
Brain
Cognitive function in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease is modulated by blood flow, hormones and menopausal status. Sex differences in drug effects can be accelerated by menopause.
Bone
Osteoporosis accelerates after menopause, but the mechanism is still not well understood. Mechanical engineering and biology come together to investigate how bones relate to whole-body health.
Muscle
Muscle strength and growth are modulated by aging and hormones. Big data approaches and stem cell engineering approaches provide new insights.
Heart
Heart disease is the leading cause of death. Novel imaging approaches provide a first look at cardiac cells and blood flow inside the muscle of the beating heart.
Cancer
Research using tissue engineering and traditional models explores breast cancer’s spread to bone, informing women’s hormone therapy choices that balance cancer risk and bone health.
Reproductive and urinary health
Development of cutting-edge, in vitro, tissue engineered models with revolutionize studies of uterine and urinary tract health.
Innovative Methods & Technologies
We’re developing and applying innovative models and cutting-edge tools to advance women’s health research.
The iDISCO technique makes an entire mouse brain transparent, allowing scientists to label and visualize specific proteins with fluorescent markers. Using this method, we can create 3D reconstructions of the whole brain and zoom into precise regions, such as the cerebral cortex, to track cellular activity. In this experiment, iDISCO was used to label cFos, a protein that signals when neurons are active, providing powerful insights into how brain circuits function in health and disease. Source: Marongiu lab.
Engineered tissues and organoids
Tissue engineering and stem cell technologies can reproduce the complex structure of human organs.
Imaging
Multiphoton (two- and three-photon) microscopy was invented at Cornell in the 1990s. It now enables studies of cells behavior in the living animal.
Animal models of perimenopause and menopause
Improved models that include a perimenopause period enable studies of memory and cognition.
Biomechanics
The mechanical properties of tissues and health are intricately related. In addition to bone and muscle performance, diseases like cancer react to stiffness.
Nerve fibers, labeled by CHaT driven expression of GCaMP, are shown with bright green fluorescent signal and osteocytes andblood vessels are shown with fluorescent red signal (labeled by RGD-functionalized nanoparticles from the Wiesner Group). These in vivo images highlight direct connections between nerves and osteocytes in bone.
Multiomics
Single cell, molecular, and network analysis approaches combine to provide quantitative tools for biomedical insights.
