FRED H. BIXBY
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Mentor Research Interests

Patricia L. Morris, Ph.D.

Patricia Morris’s research interests lie in the translational research areas of male and female fertility regulation and dysregulation during disease and infertility. She is especially interested in elucidating molecular-based developmental processes during the progression of stem and progenitor populations of male germ cells (spermatogenesis) to sperm production. Her laboratory and its collaborative efforts with her clinical colleagues focus on the interactions between hormones and growth factors in health and diseases, such as reproductive-based cancers or infertility secondary to genetic or environmental factors. Additional experimental studies focus on safety considerations for male and female contraceptive development.

Her current research focuses on:

• chromosomes, DNA-binding, and meiosis in male germ cells;
• cytokine regulation of testicular function and sperm quality; and
• safety and mechanisms for steroid receptor modulators as contraceptives.

Morris would welcome the opportunity to be a mentor to a Bixby fellow with good clinical and/or laboratory skills and data-analysis abilities, including a keen interest in the translation of experimental findings to the clinic.

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