Professor Ray Rodgers

Principal Research Fellow Phone: +61 8 8303 3932 Fax: +61 8 8303 4099 Email

Professor Rodgers is a Principal Research Fellow funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. Professor Rodgers has had a long and illustrious career into the basic biology of the ovary. He undertook a Masters and PhD in the late 70's and early 80's at the University of Melbourne in reproduction, where his work was pivotal in unravelling the cellular biology of the ovarian corpus luteum. He then undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas studying the genetics of steroid hormone synthesis. On his return to Prince Henry's in Melbourne Australia, as a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow, he cloned and studied activin genes in the ovary. In the early 1990's he moved to the Endocrine Unit at Flinders University in Adelaide as a NHMRC Research Fellow, and then to Adelaide University in 2001. He was the former president of the Endocrine Society of Australia and is Editor of Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, and is a member of the editorial board of Reproduction.

Research Interests

Our laboratory currently focuses primarily on the cellular and molecular biology of the developing ovarian follicle. We are examining the behaviour of ovarian follicular cells and in partricular, the roles of extracellular matrix in regulating these cells. Matrix is a new area for ovarian function and it has recently been proven that matrix participates in key aspects of follicle development and fertility. A newer area for us, in collaboration with Dr Carmela Ricciardelli, investigates the aetiology of ovarian cancers. Currently our translational goals are to improve IVf outcomes by understanding how follicular growth and development regulate oocyte maturation and development, and to understand the aetiology of polycystic ovarian disease and premature ageing of the ovary.

Research opportunities

The following list of projects summarizes our focused research. Opportunities exist for students to work on aspects of these and related projects. Our basic techniques are cellular and molecular biology.

Specific Projects

• Model of the membrana granulosa
• The structure of the epithelial membrana granulosa
• Extracellular matrix in the ovary
• The ovarian ECM is a novel type of matrix

Current Staff

Recent Publications:

Irving-Rodgers HG, Rodgers RJ. Extracellular matrix in ovarian follicular development and disease. Cell Tissue Res 2005; 322, 89-8

Clark LJ, Irving-Rodgers HF, Dharmarajan AM, Rodgers RJ. Theca interna: the other side of bovine follicular atresia. Biol Reprod 2044; 71(4): 1071-8

Irving-Rodgers HF, Harland ML, Rodgers RJ. A novel basal lamina matrix of the stratified epithelium of the ovarian follicle. Matrix Biol 2004; 23(4): 207-17

Rainey W, Rodgers RJ. Molecular and cellular endocrinology; special issue: endocrine cell lines. Mol Cell Endocrinol 2004: 228

Irving-Rodgers HF, Krupa M, Rodgers RJ. Cholesterol side-chain cleavage cytochrome P450 and 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase expression and the concentrations of steroid hormones in the follicular fluids of different phenotypes of healthy and atretic bovine ovarian follicles. Biol Reprod 2003; 69(6):2022-8

Irving-Rodgers HF, Catanzariti KD, Master M, Grant PA, Owens PC, Rodgers RJ. Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins in follicular fluid from morphologically distinct healthy and atretic bovine antral follicles. Reprod Fertil Dev 2003: 15(4):241-8

Rodgers RJ, Irving-Rodgers HF, Russell DL. Extracellular matrix of the developing ovarian follicle. Reproduction 2003; 126(4):415-24