Endometriosis affects 190 million women and girls. Our team is developing better diagnostics and treatments for this understudied gynecologic disorder.
Endometriosis, characterized by the abnormal growth of tissue resembling the endometrium outside the uterus, is estimated to affect 10–15% of women globally and is a leading cause of chronic pelvic pain. It often begins in adolescence, but limited understanding of its early development continues to delay diagnosis and the ability to treat it effectively.
Current therapies primarily focus on symptom management but are often invasive, ineffective, or may obscure disease progression. Among patients who undergo surgical ablation or excision of lesions, 20% to 40% experience symptom recurrence and adhesion formation after surgery.
There is a pressing need for research that uncovers the disease’s underlying mechanisms and the distinctions among its subtypes. To address this, we are developing novel drug delivery platforms integrated with a physiologically relevant models, which hold the potential to transform treatment by enabling earlier, non-invasive, and more effective personalized solutions for managing endometriosis.