The MIT Center for Gynepathology Research (CGR, or The Center) focuses on groundbreaking research in three areas, to accelerate earlier diagnosis and more successful treatment of endometriosis:
- the wide range of ways endometriosis / adenomyosis afflicts patients,
- the diversity of patient responses to available therapies for these common and morbid diseases, and
- the failure of many patients to respond to any existing therapies.
MIT Professor Linda Griffith founded CGR in 2009 with the goal of bringing new frontiers of engineering to understanding the basic biology, physiology, and pathophysiology of the female reproductive tract. Griffith leads Center activities as Scientific Director working alongside Keith Isaacson, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, who serves as CGR’s Clinical Director.
CGR people work to answer questions like, “We’re giving endometriosis patients drugs, but do we really know their level of pain, and exactly what’s causing it?” and basic science questions like, “How do endometriosis / adenomyosis lesions cause inflammation?”, “How do drugs affect endometriosis lesions?” and “Could some drugs actually make endometriosis lesions worse?”
Through collaboration among engineers, biologists, and clinicians, CGR investigators dive into these questions from the level of basic science – growing lesions from patient-derived tissues – all the way to the clinic – piloting new technologies to monitor patient pain and discomfort non-invasively at home. The Center fosters liaisons with industry, and its research leverages all facets of engineering, with an emphasis on biological engineering.
CGR hosts seminars and workshops on topics related to gynepathologies and provides infrastructure for experimental work with primary cells and tissues from patients, sharing new reagents they develop with investigators around the world. This fosters development of new gynepathology-related projects at MIT and in the Cambridge/Boston community. The Center also has an active teaching outreach program at MIT, involving undergraduate students in research and providing clinical exposure for MIT pre-medical students.
Please see the CGR People section for lists of current lab students, postdocs, staff, clinical fellows, collaborators, and advisors.
If you would like to financially support the mission of the MIT Center for Gynepathology Research, we will ensure your funds are well spent to transform the understanding and treatment of diseases affecting women’s reproductive health by exploiting the latest developments in tissue engineering, cell, and molecular biology research. To donate, click here.
