Kelle H. Moley, M.D.

DEPARTMENT OF Obstetrics & Gynecology
Keywords: autophagy, development, diabetes, germ cells, glucose transport, metabolism

From animal and human studies it is clear that mammalian gametes and embryos are vulnerable to injury during the period of oocyte maturation as well as during pre-implantation stages of development. Maternal diabetes, insulin resistance, and obesity all have adverse effects on pregnancy outcome. Glucose transport and metabolism are critical for oocyte maturation, blastocyst formation and further development. These maternal metabolic conditions all perturb glucose utilization at all stages of development. The primary focus of my laboratory is on how these perturbations in mouse models translate into developmental abnormalities at a molecular level.

Current projects in the lab center around the themes of glucose transport, insulin signaling, maternal type 1 and type 2 diabetes and preimplantation embryos. They are as follows:
1. Maternal diabetes and oocyte quality
2. Insulin and IGF-1 signaling in blastocyst stage embryos
3. Fetal origins of adult diseases
4. GLUTs expression and Akt/ERK signaling in endometrium and non-genomic effects of estrogen
5. Aberrant embryo autophagy leads to abnormal embryo development