Our interdisciplinary Physiology Graduate Program Concentration in the Reproductive Sciences focuses on research training and education in reproduction and development including genomics, epigenetics, proteomics, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Our graduate curriculum provides foundational didactics on adult and fetal male and female reproductive physiology and an advanced coursework on reproductive health and disease, with special emphasis placed on the impact of environmental exposures on reproductive health. Our graduate curriculum also integrates faculty in basic science and clinical investigation to study both basic and clinical aspects of human reproductive health. Special emphasis is placed on life windows of heightened susceptibility to environmental exposure and vulnerable persons at risk for environmental disease, such as pregnant women, the developing fetus and newborn. Particularly in an industrialized urban environment, such as Detroit, dynamic interactions among an individual’s genetic, epigenetic make-up and environmental stressors, which include chronic low-level toxicant exposures work to re-program key cellular regulatory networks to favor negative reproductive outcomes.

The interdisciplinary curriculum in “Reproductive Sciences” is designed to prepare trainees to function as independent reproductive health researchers and/or practitioners in a multi-disciplinary setting, by providing training in both mechanistic and applied research. The curriculum is geared to provide comprehensive research training opportunities that span the spectrum from basic science to practical application of scientific knowledge in reproductive health. To achieve this goal, the C.S. Mott Center has assembled committed mentors who will provide the trainees with the guidance, resources and technical experience along with rigorous oversight to ensure our students gain the knowledge, skills, academic career development that will facilitate their advancement to the future stages in their reproductive science careers. The C.S. Mott Center will provide graduate students the opportunity to work side by side in state-of-the-art research facilities and will join experienced group of trainees including post-doctoral fellows, medical residents, medical fellows and junior faculty. The curriculum will advance our understanding of how exposures to stressors which are prevalent in the Detroit urban industrialized environment, both chemical and non-chemical, impact human male and female reproductive health. The curriculum will encourage and facilitate collaborative research opportunities for students through externships with practitioners at federal and state agencies, industrial stakeholders, and non-governmental organizations.