Paths to Entrepreneurship: Precision Skincare and Drugs to Improve IVF and Contraceptives 

Speakers

Cristina de Guzman Strong, PhD

Assistant Professor of Dermatology Washington University in St. Louis

Human Evolution: Achieving Precision Health in Diverse Skin

We discovered recent evolution in the human skin barrier. Genetic innovations for key proteins in the epidermis have undergone selective sweeps in distinct populations around the world. Evoly Skin was founded to translate this discovery and develop new strategies to achieve precision health for diverse skin. Dr. de Guzman Strong will discuss these emerging opportunities and specifically for skin of African ancestry.

Liang Ma, PhD

Associate Professor of Dermatology Washington University in St. Louis

Drug Discovery Targeting Endometrial Decidualization 

Our research focuses on understanding endometrial decidualization which is an essential step during embryo implantation and placenta formation.  Uterine decidualization is a cellular process involving differentiation of the human endometrial stromal cells to specialized decidual cells. A thorough understanding of this process will allow us to develop drugs to either enhance the rate of successful pregnancy or develop contraceptives to prevent the establishment of pregnancy. We have recently developed a high-throughput cell-based screening system and have identified a promising list of small molecules that can either enhance or prevent decidualization.  These compounds have excellent potentials to be developed into drugs to improve IVF success rate, to treat endometriosis, as well as non-hormonal female contraceptives.