2025 ASRM Research Institute Grant Awardees

2025 ASRM Discovery & Innovation Research Grant

Matteo A. Molé, PhD (Stanford University)

Title: “In Vitro Modeling Human Embryo Implantation: Mapping the Early Embryo-Matternal Interactions"

Dr. Matteo A. Molè, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University and a member of the Dunlevie Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center for Discovery, Innovation and Clinical Impact, as well as the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He earned his PhD from University College London (UCL) and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Cambridge and the Babraham Institute, where he obtained a license from the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to conduct research on human embryos donated by IVF patients. Dr. Molè’s lab focuses on investigating the complex mechanisms of human embryo implantation—a critical yet failure-prone step in establishing a healthy pregnancy. This clinically observed "implantation barrier" often necessitates multiple IVF cycles without guaranteed success. His research aims to unravel the “black box” of embryo-maternal crosstalk during implantation by visualizing the process in real time, identifying the timing of embryo loss, studying the molecular communication at the embryo-maternal interface, and pinpointing the genes essential for early placenta formation using advanced genetic technologies. The long-term vision of the Molè lab is to develop therapeutic interventions that improve IVF success rates and clinical outcomes by overcoming the implantation barrier and advancing reproductive medicine.

2025 ASRM Pilot & Exploratory Research Grant

Pasquale Patrizio, MD, MBE, HCLD, FACOG (University of Miami)

Title: ““Ex vivo” perfusion of whole human ovaries in a bioreactor: a novel method to study ovarian physiology folliculogenesis and oocytes maturity.”

Dr. Pasquale Patrizio, MD, MBE, HCLD, FACOG, a globally recognized leader in reproductive medicine, has joined the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine as professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, and chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. Formerly at Yale University for 17 years, where he directed the fertility center and IVF program, Dr. Patrizio is renowned for groundbreaking contributions that have transformed reproductive medicine, including discoveries linking male infertility to cystic fibrosis and Y-chromosome deletions, co-pioneering the MESA technique, and advancing whole ovary cryopreservation and bio-banking of reproductive tissues. At Miami, he plans to establish a Center for Reproductive Health with services for transgender individuals and a fellowship program in partnership with Dr. Paidas.

A prolific scholar and editor, Dr. Patrizio has authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers and several books, served as president of the International Society for Fertility Preservation, and contributed to ASCO’s fertility preservation guidelines. His international accolades include induction into the 36-member International Academy of Human Reproduction. Trained in Italy and the U.S., with fellowships and residencies in andrology and reproductive endocrinology, Dr. Patrizio exemplifies collaborative care and innovation in both male and female infertility.

2025 Maya's Wings Foundation Research Award

Nickie Andescavage, MD (Children's Research Institute)

Title: “Advanced Imaging and Epigenetic Insights into Placental Development in Assisted Reproductive Technologies-Conceived Pregnancies”

Nickie Andescavage, MD, is the Associate Chief of Medical and Academic Affairs of the Developing Brain Institute (DBI) at Children’s National, and oversees DBI’s clinical and research programs, providing oversight of the medical and clinical care teams of DBI, supporting continuity of care across the prenatal-neonatal continuum, and overseeing the Maternal and Infant Clinical Trials Unit. She also serves as the clinical director, leads our community engagement efforts with obstetricians and maternal-fetal medicine specialists, and expanded our clinical research enterprise to a growing number of community NICUs. Dr. Andescavage also is an attending physician in Children’s Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences.

Dr. Andescavage’s background in neonatology began with early academic interests in the mechanisms of acquired brain injury in premature infants. A subsequent fellowship in fetal medicine provided her additional expertise in fetal brain and placental development, including training in advanced imaging techniques. These sophisticated techniques allow for more rigorous study of the development and metabolism of the placenta and fetal brain and the more precise detection of injury, as well as the role of intrauterine exposures on offspring neurodevelopment.

2025 ASRM In-Training Surgical Research Award

Margaret A Rush, MD (University of Pennsylvania)

Title: “Hysteroscopy for diagnosis and treatment of pregnancy of unknown location”

Margaret A. Rush, MD is a current second year fellow in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed medical school at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, and her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a current member of the SRS Surgical Scholars Track and has a special interest in reproductive surgery. 

2025 KY Cha Awardee

(Supported by an endowment from the Asia-Pacific Biomedical Research Foundation)

Katie Ayers (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia)

Title: “Developing a scalable stem cell model to analyze genes and regulatory regions involved in fetal gonadal development and difference of sex development.”

Associate Professor Katie Ayers is a group leader at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and Associate Professor in Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. Her research explores the genetic and molecular mechanisms of human reproductive development and Differences of Sex Development (DSD). She is an editorial board member for several journals including Biology of Reproduction and Sexual Development. Katie’s research has spanned multiple animal models, human genetics and stem cell techniques and has been published in leading journals including Genome Biology, Nature Communications, and Developmental Cell. Notably, she received the 2014 Alan Wilton Award from the Genetics Society of Australasia for characterizing the chicken W sex chromosome and in 2016 co-authored a study in Genome Biology where creation of a novel gene panel improved diagnosis rates from 13% to 40% for individuals with DSD. Recently, she has been developing stem cell models of human gonadal development for functional genomics, work aimed at improving genetic diagnostics and patient care. 

2025 RPLA Research Awardee

(Supported by the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Association)

Monica Mainigi, MD (University of Pennsylvania)

Title: "The Role of Uterine Macrophages in Early Placentation and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss”

Dr. Mainigi is an Associate Professor in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of Pennsylvania. Her laboratory focuses on examining the interactions between per-implantation exposures and early placentation utilizing animal models, in vitro culture systems, and human tissues. Specifically, using Assisted Reproductive Technologies as a model, she has examined how specific interventions utilized during ART can lead to changes in placentation and adverse outcomes. Studying early implantation in humans is challenging. Therefore, to address these challenges, her laboratory has partnered with bioengineers in the laboratory of Dr. Dan Huh to utilize their organ-on-a-chip technology to model early placentation. Using this 'implantation-on-a-chip' device and primary human cells, they have found that uterine immune cells play a critical role in regulating early trophoblast invasion and spiral artery remodeling and that patients at risk for abnormal placentation may have changes in these immune cell populations.  They are currently developing new protocols to use this device to examine how maternal cells may influence trophoblast differentiation using iPS derived trophoblasts. These studies will aid us understanding how the preexisting maternal environment, and in particular uterine macrophages, can affect early implantation and play a role in recurrent pregnancy loss.