# A microphysiological engineered 3D system to the rescue of ovarian follicles

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $381,002

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Ovarian follicles are the functional multicellular units of the ovary responsible for a woman’s fertility and
ovarian endocrine function. Currently, young women and prepubertal girls diagnosed with cancer and facing
ovo-toxic treatments have limited options to preserve their fertility, with cryopreservation of ovarian tissue prior
to chemotherapy being the most promising route. Only primordial and early-stage primary follicles survive
cryopreservation. To grow and mature, follicles have to be isolated and cultured in groups, because they die if
cultured individually. Culture of isolated early follicles as groups has limited translational potential, because of
different developmental stages and varying quality of follicles in the cohort, thus emphasizing the need to
develop approaches to successfully culture early follicles individually. The low success rates of in vitro follicle
development are attributed to the complex and poorly understood paracrine and autocrine signaling between
the cells in a follicle, neighboring follicles and their microenvironment. Our overall research objectives are: (a)
to identify key factors essential for activation and growth of early stage follicles in vitro, (b) to establish
networks and functional relationships between secreted factors, downstream receptors and transcription
factors, and (c) to create a standardized in vitro culture system that promotes growth and maturation of early
follicles individually. The novelty and the significance of the proposed research are in the discovery of key
factors that control and direct the earliest stages of ovarian follicle development. Application of a systems
biology approach to study dynamic processes in complex multicellular organoid structures, such as follicles,
has the potential to translate to human follicles and study the development and interplay in other tissue
organoids and embryos.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9971659
- **Project number:** 1R01HD099402-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Ariella Shikanov
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $381,002
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-01 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9971659

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9971659, A microphysiological engineered 3D system to the rescue of ovarian follicles (1R01HD099402-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9971659. Licensed CC0.

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