WHAT WE DO
The mission of our laboratory is to improve uterine health through understanding uterine degeneration and regeneration. Our major focus is menstruation, which affects roughly half of the world's population for about 40 years of their lives, yet it has been severely understudied. The reasons are complex but include societal taboos around menstruation and historical bias in which topics receive research funding. This research gap has real consequences: hundreds of millions of people worldwide are unable to adequately treat their endometriosis, heavy menstrual bleeding, and menstrual pain.
We work primarily in rodent models and recently developed the first transgenic mouse models that recapitulate human menstruation. We currently have 4 major research avenues:
1) Mechanisms underlying normal menstruation
2) Intersection of menstruation and disease
3) Uterine degeneration and regeneration beyond menstruation
4) Communication between the uterus and the rest of the body
UTERINE REGENERATION AND MENSTRUAL HEALTH
JOIN US!
We are excited to help support you in doing cool science, learning new things, and defining and achieving your professional goals.
Harvard undergraduate students
Please email Kara your CV and a short description of your research interests.
Graduate students
Students interested in graduate training in the lab must first be accepted to one of the Harvard Integrated Life Sciences graduate programs. These programs do not require a faculty sponsor to apply. Once students start in the program, they perform rotations in a variety of different labs. If you are a current Harvard graduate student interested in a rotation, please email Kara.
Postdocs
Please email Kara your CV, a short description of your research interests, and contact information for 3 references.
Harvard is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, age, protected veteran status, disability, genetic information, military service, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or other protected status.
FUNDING
We are grateful to our funders for their support
Our NIH "New Innovator" grant, which aims to improve menstrual health, was terminated as part of the mass grant terminations at Harvard in May 2025. This grant was reinstated following the US District Court's ruling in September 2025 that the federal government's funding freeze was unlawful. The government appealed the ruling in December 2025, placing this research in jeopardy again.
You can learn more about the mass terminations of all federal funding at Harvard here and here.
