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Science’s changing demographics raise new questions about research team diversity and research outcomes. We study mixed-gender research teams, examining 6.6 million papers published across the medical sciences since 2000 and establishing several core findings. First, the fraction of publications by mixed-gender teams has grown rapidly, yet mixed-gender teams continue to be underrepresented compared to the expectations of a null model. Second, despite their underrepresentation, the publications of mixed-gender teams are substantially more novel and impactful than the publications of same-gender teams of equivalent size. Third, the greater the gender balance on a team, the better the team scores on these performance measures. Fourth, these patterns generalize across medical subfields. Finally, the novelty and impact advantages seen with mixed-gender teams persist when considering numerous controls and potential related features, including fixed effects for the individual researchers, team structures, and network positioning, suggesting that a team’s gender balance is an underrecognized yet powerful correlate of novel and impactful scientific discoveries.

Enhanced long-term survival rates of young women with cancer and advances in reproductive medicine and cryobiology have culminated in an increased interest in fertility preservation methods in girls and young women with cancer. Present data suggest that young patients with cancer should be referred for fertility preservation counselling quickly to help with their coping process. Although the clinical application of novel developments, including oocyte vitrification and oocyte maturation in vitro, has resulted in reasonable success rates in assisted reproduction programmes, experience with these techniques in the setting of fertility preservation is in its infancy. It is hoped that these and other approaches, some of which are still regarded as experimental (eg, ovarian tissue cryopreservation, pharmacological protection against gonadotoxic agents, in-vitro follicle growth, and follicle transplantation) will be optimised and become established within the next decade. Unravelling the complex mechanisms of activation and suppression of follicle growth will not only expand the care of thousands of women diagnosed with cancer, but also inform the care of millions of women confronted with reduced reproductive fitness because of ageing.

Emerging additive manufacturing techniques enable investigation of the effects of pore geometry on cell behavior and function. Here, we 3D print microporous hydrogel scaffolds to test how varying pore geometry, accomplished by manipulating the advancing angle between printed layers, affects the survival of ovarian follicles. 30° and 60° scaffolds provide corners that surround follicles on multiple sides while 90° scaffolds have an open porosity that limits follicle–scaffold interaction. As the amount of scaffold interaction increases, follicle spreading is limited and survival increases. Follicle-seeded scaffolds become highly vascularized and ovarian function is fully restored when implanted in surgically sterilized mice. Moreover, pups are born through natural mating and thrive through maternal lactation. These findings present an in vivo functional ovarian implant designed with 3D printing, and indicate that scaffold pore architecture is a critical variable in additively manufactured scaffold design for functional tissue engineering. There is a clinical need to develop a bioengineering system to support ovary transplantation. Here, the authors generate a bioprosthetic ovary using 3D printed scaffolds of varying pore architectures to support follicle survival and ovarian function in sterilized mice.

Collaboration plays an increasingly important role in promoting research productivity and impact. What remains unclear is whether female and male researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) disciplines differ in their collaboration propensity. Here, we report on an empirical analysis of the complete publication records of 3,980 faculty members in six STEM disciplines at select U.S. research universities. We find that female faculty have significantly fewer distinct co-authors over their careers than males, but that this difference can be fully accounted for by females' lower publication rate and shorter career lengths. Next, we find that female scientists have a lower probability of repeating previous co-authors than males, an intriguing result because prior research shows that teams involving new collaborations produce work with higher impact. Finally, we find evidence for gender segregation in some sub-disciplines in molecular biology, in particular in genomics where we find female faculty to be clearly under-represented.

Human ovary autotransplantation is a promising option for fertility preservation of young women and girls undergoing gonadotoxic treatments for cancer or some autoimmune diseases. Although experimental, it resulted in at least 42 healthy babies worldwide. According to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic literature review was performed for all relevant full-text articles published in English from 1 January 2000 to 01 October 2015 in PubMed to explore the latest clinical and research advances of human ovary autotransplantation. Human ovary autotransplantation involves ovarian tissue extraction, freezing/thawing, and transplantation back into the same patient. Three major forms of human ovary autotransplantation exist including (a) transplantation of cortical ovarian tissue, (b) transplantation of whole ovary, and (c) transplantation of ovarian follicles (artificial ovary). According to the recent guidelines, human ovary autotransplantation is still considered experimental; however, it has unique advantages in comparison to other options of female fertility preservation. Human ovary autotransplantation (i) does not need prior ovarian stimulation, (ii) allows immediate initiation of cancer therapy, (iii) can restore both endocrine and reproductive ovarian functions, and (iv) may be the only fertility preservation option suitable for prepubertal girls or for young women with estrogen-sensitive malignancies. As any other fertility preservation option, human ovary autotransplantation has both advantages and disadvantages and may not be feasible for all cases. The major challenges facing this option are how to avoid the risk of reintroducing malignant cells and how to prolong the lifespan of ovarian transplant as well as how to improve artificial ovary results.

In vitro follicle growth is a potential approach to preserve fertility for young women who are facing a risk of premature ovarian failure (POF) caused by radiation or chemotherapy. Our two-step follicle culture strategy recapitulated the dynamic human follicle growth environment in vitro . Follicles developed from the preantral to antral stage, and, for the first time, produced meiotically competent metaphase II (MII) oocytes after in vitro maturation (IVM).

Many studies demonstrate that there is still a significant gender bias, especially at higher career levels, in many areas including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We investigated field-dependent, gender-specific effects of the selective pressures individuals experience as they pursue a career in academia within seven STEM disciplines. We built a unique database that comprises 437,787 publications authored by 4,292 faculty members at top United States research universities. Our analyses reveal that gender differences in publication rate and impact are discipline-specific. Our results also support two hypotheses. First, the widely-reported lower publication rates of female faculty are correlated with the amount of research resources typically needed in the discipline considered, and thus may be explained by the lower level of institutional support historically received by females. Second, in disciplines where pursuing an academic position incurs greater career risk, female faculty tend to have a greater fraction of higher impact publications than males. Our findings have significant, field-specific, policy implications for achieving diversity at the faculty level within the STEM disciplines.

Fertilization of a mammalian egg initiates a series of ‘zinc sparks’ that are necessary to induce the egg-to-embryo transition. Despite the importance of these zinc-efflux events little is known about their origin. To understand the molecular mechanism of the zinc spark we combined four physical approaches that resolve zinc distributions in single cells: a chemical probe for dynamic live-cell fluorescence imaging and a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence microscopy and three-dimensional elemental tomography for high-resolution elemental mapping. We show that the zinc spark arises from a system of thousands of zinc-loaded vesicles, each of which contains, on average, 10 6 zinc atoms. These vesicles undergo dynamic movement during oocyte maturation and exocytosis at the time of fertilization. The discovery of these vesicles and the demonstration that zinc sparks originate from them provides a quantitative framework for understanding how zinc fluxes regulate cellular processes. The mammalian oocyte cell cycle is regulated by massive zinc fluxes which culminate in coordinated ejections of ~10 10 zinc ions at fertilization. Four single-cell physiochemical approaches (live-cell fluorescence imaging, scanning transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence microscopy and tomography) reveal that these ‘zinc sparks’ originate from thousands of cortical vesicles which each release ~10 6 zinc ions.

Probing the biological location and function of transition metals has proven difficult. X-ray fluorescence microscopy in combination with an array of metal chelators now provides a way to interrogate zinc in maturing mouse oocytes, demonstrating a role for this metal in cell division. Cellular metal ion fluxes are known in alkali and alkaline earth metals but are not well documented in transition metals. Here we describe major changes in the zinc physiology of the mammalian oocyte as it matures and initiates embryonic development. Single-cell elemental analysis of mouse oocytes by synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) revealed a 50% increase in total zinc content within the 12–14-h period of meiotic maturation. Perturbation of zinc homeostasis with a cell-permeable small-molecule chelator blocked meiotic progression past telophase I. Zinc supplementation rescued this phenotype when administered before this meiotic block. However, after telophase arrest, zinc triggered parthenogenesis, suggesting that exit from this meiotic step is tightly regulated by the availability of a zinc-dependent signal. These results implicate the zinc bolus acquired during meiotic maturation as an important part of the maternal legacy to the embryo.