3-D printed ovaries produce healthy offspring, shows promise for fertility treatments

Monica Laronda, PhD, is working on cutting-edge research that has restored fertility and hormone production in a mouse using 3-D ovaries. The latest study was published in May in the journal Nature Communications.

By removing a female mouse’s ovaries and replacing it with an implanted 3-D printed bioprosthetic ovary, the mouse was able to ovulate, give birth to healthy pups, and nurse them as well.

Dr. Laronda is the Director of Basic and Translational Research for the Fertility & Hormone Preservation & Restoration Program at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the only fertility program for pediatric and adolescents in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Iowa.  She is a reproductive endocrinologist who studies the mechanisms of fertility and hormone restoration.

Her ultimate objective is to help restore fertility and hormone production in those who survived childhood cancer and now have increased risks of infertility and hormone-based developmental issues.

Dr. Laronda is the Warren & Eloise Batts Research Scholar, Department of Surgery, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology, Feinberg School of Medicine.