Campion Awardees 2024
Award for Best Oral Presentation
Lenka Radonova, PhD. A Visiting Fellow in Carmen Williams, PhD’s Laboratory at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences was awarded the 2024 Campion Fund for the best oral presentation at the 32nd annual meeting of the Triangle Consortium for Reproductive Biology on March 29, 2024. Her topic was Mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum domains in Ca2++ signaling at fertilization.
Awards for Best Poster Presentation
Virginia Savy. PhD, Visiting Fellow, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Carmen Willaims, PhD’s Laboratory is the winner of the Campion Fund Award for the best poster presentation given at the 32nd annual meeting of the Triangle Consortium for Reproductive Biology on March 29, 2024. The poster was entitled: Calcium oscillations: the eggs’ elevator pitch at fertilization.
Campion Awardees 2023
Award for Best Oral Presentation
Yu-Ying Chen, PhD was given the 2023 Campion Award for her oral presentation entitled Identification of the origin of interstitial cell progenitors in the ovary. She is a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory/Reproductive Development Biology Group headed by Humphrey Yao.
Awards for Best Poster Presentation
This year there was a three-way tie vote of the scientific judge panel. Therefore, three awardees shared the prize.
Sharon Dupont, a member of Blanche Capel’s laboratory, Duke University was given the award for Regulation of mammalian sex determination by histone demethylation.
Emma Gilbert, a member of Chris Geyer’s laboratory East Carolina University received the award for Defining the essential role of the RNA binding protein RBM46 in preparing male germ cells for meiosis.
Martin Estermann, a member of Humphrey Yao’s group at NIEHS was given the award for Nr2f2 regulates interstitial cell specification and Leydig cell differentiation.
Campion Fund Triangle Consortium of Reproductive Biology Awardees
2022
Ciro Amato, PhD
Presentation: He described studies that seek to understand how the male urethra closes in the penis during fetal development. Dr. Amato discovered a group of cells in the embryo that are important in the development of the penis. If they are altered or absent a birth malformaiont, hypospadias occurs. In this condition the opening of the urethra is not at the end of the penis but is along the shaft. Depending on the alternation of the cells, this opening can be anywhere from the base of the shaft to a positon along the shaft.In a newborn, surgery is necessary to correct this problem in many cases. If the opening of the urethra is not too displaced, surgical correction might not be necessary. Ciro was awarded the Campion Fund Award for his oral presentation entitled “A novel cell population from hindlimbs interacts with mesenchymal cells in the external genitalia to facilitate proper penis formation.”. He is a postdoctoral fellow in Humphrey Yao’s Lab at NIEHS.
Oleksandr Kirsanov, PhD
Presentation: Meiosis is a specialized form of cell division essential for sexual reproduction. In mammals, the molecular and cellular changes that germ cells must undergo to transition from mitotic spermatogonia to meiotic spermatocytes remain largely undefined. Retinoic acid (RA) has been proposed as the meiosis inducing substance (MIS) required for female and male meiotic initiation. Evidence for this presumption is based on studies of fetal gonads – meiosis is initiated in fetal ovaries but suppressed in fetal testes. Oleksandr, a scientist from Ukraine, conducted a series of experiments that found that retinoic acid, which is produced in the body from Vitamin A is not necessary for the initiation of and the progession of meiosis in spermatogeneis. Oleksandr was awarded a Campion Fund Award for his poster “Retinoic acid is dispensable for initiation and progression through male meiosis in mice." Oleksandr has received his PHD at East Carolina University and is currently working for a bio-technology company.
2021
Ru-pin Alicia Chi, PhD
Presentation: WNK1 regulates embryo implantation in mice through PP2A-AKT (protein phosphatase A2- alpha serine/threonine protein kinase) signaling. She is a post-doctoral researcher at NIEHS in the Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory. Dr. Chi worked with Dr. Francesco DeMayo and colleagues in his laboratory. She was given the Campion Fund Award for the best oral presentation at the recent Triangle Consortium for Reproductive Biology meeting held on February 26, 2021.
Christine E. Crute, PhD candidate
Presentation: Maternal exposure to an environmentally relevant mixture of per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) leads to adverse pregnancy outcomes in a New Zealand White rabbit model. She is a graduate student at Duke University, Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program. Her thesis advisors are Drs. Liping Feng and Susan Murphy, Nicholas School of the Environment, Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health Program and School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She was given the Campion Fund Award for the best poster presentation.
2019
Rong Li, PhD
Presentation: The overexpression of progesterone A or B isoform in uterine epithelium disrupts female fertility through LIF (leukemia inhibiting factor-and FOXO1 (forkhead box protein O1). She is a Fellow working with Dr. Francesco DeMayo, Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory, Pregnancy and Female Reproduction Group, NIEHS, NIH, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Rosa Schrott, PhD candidate
Presentation: Cannabis use is associated with changes in autism candidate DLGAP2 DNA methylation in human sperm. This finding is highly signicant in terms of public health as it raises concern about the offspring that result from sperm generated duing cannabis use. She conducted this research in Dr. Susan Murphy’s Laboratory at Duke University. She is currently a graduate student in Dr. Murphy’s Laboratory, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
2018
Margeaux Wetendorf-Marbrey, PhD
Presentation: Cigarette Smoke-exposed adrenomedullin high mice exhibit abnormal placenta and delayed embryonic development. At the time of the award she was a fellow in Dr. Kathleen Caron’s laboratory, UNC-Chapel Hill. Currently she is a post-doctoral student in Dr. Caron’s Laboratory, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She completed her academic career at UNC-Chapel Hill in the spring of 2023 and currently Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Duke University School of Medicine
Tyler Ramsey, DO
Presentation: Steroid receptor hormonal activity of lavender and tea tree oil components. He was a predoctoral fellow in Dr. Kenneth Korach’s Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory, Receptor Biology Group at NIEHS. He has graduated from Campbell University, School of Osteopathic Medicine, Lillington, North Carolina, where he was Vice-President of the Student Government Association. He is currenlty a resident in medicine in Charlotte, NC.
2017
Xiaoquin Wang, PhD
Presentation: SOX 17 governs the Indian Hedgehog to promote female fertility via uterine epithelial-stromal interactions. At the time of the award he was a member of the Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory, Pregnancy and Female Reproduction Group, NIEHS, NIH NIEHS where he worked under Dr. Francesco DeMayo. He is now Assistant Professor in Physiology of Reproduction, Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Brook C. Matson, MD/PhD candidate
Presentation: Adrenomedullin improves fertility by promoting pinopodes and cell junctions in the peri-implantation endometrium. She was a fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Kathleen Caron, Departmant of Cell Biology and Physiology, UNC- Chapel Hill at the time she received the award. Currently she is in her final year in the MD/PhD program at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina,
Kathryn McClelland, PhD
Presentation: Loss of COUP-TFII (NR2F2) affects fetal testicular development. At the time she received the award she was a Visiting Fellow working in Dr. Humphrey Yao’s Reproductive Developmental Biology Group, Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory at NIEHS. She also competed a postion as a Visiting Fellow at NIDDK, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland. A citizen of Australia she is currently residing in Canada.
2016
Samuel Pendergraft, PhD, MMS
Presentation: Development of a novel 3-dimensional testicular organoid model for the study of human spermatogenesis and gonadotoxicity in vitro. At the time of the award he was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Wake-Forest University under Dr. Hooman Sadri Ardekani, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Currently he is located at the Wake Forest Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem, where he is certified Physician’ s Assistant.
Fei Zhao, PhD
Presentation: Wolffian duct regression in the female embryo is the result of COUP-TFII action, not a lack of androgen action. He was a member of Dr. Humphrey Yao’s Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory, Reproductive Developmental Biology Group at the time he was given the award. After his award, he continued to play a role in that laboratory at NIEHS, NIH, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. He is currently a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and is the head of a highly sucessful laboratory.
2015
Alisa Suen, PhD
Presentation: Aberrant SIX1 expression may contribute to the development of uterine adenocarcinoma following neonatal xenoestrogen exposure. She was a member of the Reproductive Medicine Group, Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory, NIEHS working with Dr. Carmen Williams at the time of the award. She is currently a member of Dr. Carmen Williams’s laboratory at NIEHS, NIH, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Kristen Upson, PhD, MPH
Presentation: Early life factors associated with uterine fibroid development in later life. At the time of the award Dr. Upson was at NIEHS in the Epidemiology Branch, Women’s Health Group working with Dr. Donna Baird. Dr. Upson is currently Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Michigan State University, School of Human Medicine, East Lansing, Michigan.
2014
Shannon Whirledge, PhD, MSc.
Presentation: Uterine glucocorticoid receptor knockout mice are sub-fertile and have aberrant signal transduction. She was a member of Dr. John Cidlowski’s Molecular Endocrinology Group at NIEHS, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina at the time the award was received. In 2016 she joined the faculty at Yale University as Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale Medical School and School of Public, Environmental Health Sciences, New Haven, Connecticut.
Chang Liu, PhD
Presentation: Somatic cell linage establishment during organogenesis or the mouse ovary. He was a member of the Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology Laboratory, NIEHS, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina when the award was given. He is was a post-doctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Dr. Yoh-suke Mukouyama at NHLBI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Liu is currenlty wiht Precision Bioscience in Durham, NC.