Infertility and contraception are two sides of the same coin. While contraception is required for maintaining the population pyramid, infertility is a socio-psychological trauma that affects the quality of life of the productive population. On one hand, approximately 15% of couples at reproductive age are infertile while 57% of women in the same group worldwide have a need for family planning with 270 million lacking any access to it. Albeit, assisted reproduction techniques (ART) offers a hope to infertile couples, it is still far from perfect. The failures in ART may be attributed to our poor understanding of the molecular physiology of germ cells, embryos and endometrium. Since hormonal contraceptives involve noticeable adverse effects including risk of cancer, developing a pipeline of non-hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (non-HPG) contraceptives for men and women warrant special attention. Thus, unveiling the molecules responsible for successful reproductive functions will not only entail how to manage infertility but also to target the same molecules for designing novel contraceptives.
With the advent of OMICS technologies and robust bioinformatics pipelines, it is now feasible to study the events and interactions of cellular structures and processes from DNA and genes to metabolites in a complex and global way including epigenetics and secretomics. Last two decades, based on OMICS data, strategies have been in place for development of novel contraceptives for both sexes that do not interfere with HPG axis. Targeting structural proteins and protein:protein and protein:nucleicacid interactions are considered the most efficient ones for development of therapeutics. Nevertheless, inhibitors of such interactions without side effects suitable for the development of a contraceptive are still uncharted. Despite the advancements made to identify and validate proteins/genes/non-coding RNA for development of infertility/fertility biomarkers, druggable targets are yet to be developed. Therefore, the goal of this special volume is to encompass all the advancements in reproduction using OMICs platform for infertility management and development of next-generation contraceptives for women and the first ever male pills for men.
This research topic welcomes submissions including, but not limited to, the following themes:
Omics platforms for understanding reproductive phenomena
• Epigenetics of markers of fertility
• Lessons learned from transcriptomics and non-coding RNAs
• Proteomic and metabolomic signatures and the interactome in infertility management and contraceptive development
• Systems biology and the use of multi-omics technologies in finding targets
Please note; 1) Descriptive studies (e.g. gene expression profiles, or transcript, protein, or metabolite levels under particular conditions or in a particular cell type) and studies consisting solely of bioinformatic investigation of publicly available genomic / transcriptomic data do not fall within the scope of the journal unless they are expanded and provide significant biological or mechanistic insight into the process being studied.
Infertility and contraception are two sides of the same coin. While contraception is required for maintaining the population pyramid, infertility is a socio-psychological trauma that affects the quality of life of the productive population. On one hand, approximately 15% of couples at reproductive age are infertile while 57% of women in the same group worldwide have a need for family planning with 270 million lacking any access to it. Albeit, assisted reproduction techniques (ART) offers a hope to infertile couples, it is still far from perfect. The failures in ART may be attributed to our poor understanding of the molecular physiology of germ cells, embryos and endometrium. Since hormonal contraceptives involve noticeable adverse effects including risk of cancer, developing a pipeline of non-hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (non-HPG) contraceptives for men and women warrant special attention. Thus, unveiling the molecules responsible for successful reproductive functions will not only entail how to manage infertility but also to target the same molecules for designing novel contraceptives.
With the advent of OMICS technologies and robust bioinformatics pipelines, it is now feasible to study the events and interactions of cellular structures and processes from DNA and genes to metabolites in a complex and global way including epigenetics and secretomics. Last two decades, based on OMICS data, strategies have been in place for development of novel contraceptives for both sexes that do not interfere with HPG axis. Targeting structural proteins and protein:protein and protein:nucleicacid interactions are considered the most efficient ones for development of therapeutics. Nevertheless, inhibitors of such interactions without side effects suitable for the development of a contraceptive are still uncharted. Despite the advancements made to identify and validate proteins/genes/non-coding RNA for development of infertility/fertility biomarkers, druggable targets are yet to be developed. Therefore, the goal of this special volume is to encompass all the advancements in reproduction using OMICs platform for infertility management and development of next-generation contraceptives for women and the first ever male pills for men.
This research topic welcomes submissions including, but not limited to, the following themes:
Omics platforms for understanding reproductive phenomena
• Epigenetics of markers of fertility
• Lessons learned from transcriptomics and non-coding RNAs
• Proteomic and metabolomic signatures and the interactome in infertility management and contraceptive development
• Systems biology and the use of multi-omics technologies in finding targets
Please note; 1) Descriptive studies (e.g. gene expression profiles, or transcript, protein, or metabolite levels under particular conditions or in a particular cell type) and studies consisting solely of bioinformatic investigation of publicly available genomic / transcriptomic data do not fall within the scope of the journal unless they are expanded and provide significant biological or mechanistic insight into the process being studied.