Dr Mehrnaz Montazeri

Profile

I am Dr. Mehrnaz Montazeri, MD PhD in Reproductive Medicine. I am currently working as a Fertility Specialist and Research Fellow in Reproductive Medicine at University of Leeds. 

Previously, I worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Centre for Stem Cell Biology at the University of Sheffield and my project focused on the development of synthetic gel matrices for the maintenance and survival of human pluripotent stem cells and human pre-implantation embryos in vitro.

My background is Medicine and I received my Medical degree in 2010. In order to spread my scientific knowledge, I immediately started a PhD in Reproductive Medicine at the University of Sheffield. My research focused on understanding the role of activation of innate immune system in the female reproductive tract on human embryo implantation. 

Doing my PhD research, I established a human in vitro model which can mimic embryo implantation in humans and investigated the effect that the activation of innate immune system in the mother can have on embryo implantation. In particular, I investigated the role of Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR 3) activation on the adhesion of trophoblast cells to endometrial cells in vitro. I was able to show that stimulation of maternal TLR 3 negatively affects embryo implantation by altering cell cytoskeleton organization, expression of adhesion molecules and cytokine production. Potentially these changes will favour the protection of the maternal tissue from infectious agents, but will compromise the implantation of an embryo. The knowledge acquired from this work improved the ability of clinicians in the development of specific therapeutic tools that optimised embryo implantation in ART techniques and shed light on the diagnosis and treatment of infertility cases.

Research interests

My research focuses on the structure and function of some structures in Drosophila Melanogaster in reproduction.

Qualifications

• PhD Reproductive Medicine
• Medical Degree