Hughes Mentor:  Joanne Fortune

Department: Vet Biomedical Sciences

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Joanne Elizabeth Fortune

Joanne Elizabeth Fortune was born and grew up in Watertown, New York State. She completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at the College of New Rochelle, a Catholic women’s college. She spent her junior year in Rome at a branch of the Loyola University of Chicago where she took courses such as English Literature, Theology and Philosophy. Dr Fortune pursued her graduate studies at Cornell University in Ithaca. She finished her PhD on Embryology of frog species and a post-doctoral study on Reproductive Biology of rats. Her second post-doctoral research focused on cows and frogs.

Research as a future career option was an enticing idea due to an exciting aspect of discovery as well as a real feeling of comradeship and collegiality in the laboratories. Even now, attending the annual “Society for the Study of Reproduction” meetings tends to inspire and re-energize the sense of challenge and purpose in her work.

Currently, dr Fortune is studying means of regulation of the differentiation and function of the ovarian follicles. An exciting discovery has been regarding the so-called waves of follicular development in cows. These are cohorts of follicles that are stimulated to grow at some point during the reproductive cycle. The cohorts are recruited two or three times in an estrous bovine cycle, while each time, only one follicle is chosen to continue to maturation. The possible application of this discovery is in the synchronization of animal fertilization or more specifically, changing the protocols for the synchronization process. This is important particularly in New York State, because cows are bred by artificial insemination and synchronization of this event greatly eases the process.

Another reason for studying follicular development in cows is its similarity in relation to a woman’s cycle. Also, this study might help to develop methods to propagate valuable cows and even protect endangered species. The latter could be done by taking the immature follicles to be grown in vitro to the stage of oocyte competence for fertilization and development. Then, they could be fertilized and implanted in a surrogate mother of similar species. Yet another useful method could be the cryopreservation of follicles of women undergoing chemotherapy and in-vitro fertilization at a later time.

Dr Fortune states that she “found her niche” in Reproductive Endocrinology but she does admit that teaching Biology was her second option. Although research takes a lot of time and dedication, dr Fortune finds time to travel, read mysteries and spend time with family and friends.

A Day in the Life of an Undergraduate in the Fortune Lab

I found my lab position by emailing a few professors I had found through a search on Cornell Biology’s website. I looked for faculty who were doing research that I found interesting, and emailed them with an informal cover letter and my resume. I was looking for a paid research job, which made finding a faculty mentor harder, albeit not impossible. I began working in Dr. Fortune’s lab during my spring sophomore year. The Fortune lab studies two aspects of bovine ovulation: the first research aim is to determine the factors that cause differentiation of primordial ovarian follicles into primary follicles and the second research aim is to study the effect of certain hormones on the two endocrine cell types in the follicle during the period just before ovulation. We use cattle as an animal model for human ovarian function and use techniques such as ultrasonography, immunoassays, and histological morphometry.

Since my Program of Study is in Molecular and Cell Biology, I had little knowledge of animal physiology and endocrinology when I first started. However, I was given introductory reading material on estrous cycles and attended seminars held by fellow lab members. Plus, all the people in the lab were friendly and answered any questions I had about their research or bovine ovulation in general. Initially, I was hired to help a graduate student with his experiment by quantifying the level of hormones in his samples through immunoassays. Eventually, I was given an independent research project that studies the role of a hormone on follicles surgically removed just prior to ovulation.

On an average day in lab, I look over the previous day’s assays to check that they worked properly and that no samples need to be re-assayed. With the data on hand, I decide how much of the sample I need to use for future assays in order to ballpark the amount within the standard curve. Once I have decided all the parameters of the assays, I begin setting them up. Usually, I set up four assays in one day, which involves a lot of pipetting! I let them equilibrate overnight and then take the assays down the next day. If there are assays that I have already started the day before, I will finish those. I can usually get out of lab by 5PM but it often depends on how the experiments go.

The nice thing about doing assays is that you can do them on your own time, unlike Western blotting, for example, where you have to be there at a certain time to move onto the next step. Each assay takes about an hour to set up and another hour to take down. When I’m doing an assay, I can’t stop for a long period of time. Once I’m done, though, I can wait before starting another assay if I want to. Students who wish to fit into the Fortune lab should be independent, responsible, and friendly. The research is quite demanding, but it is definitely manageable to balance research and academics during the academic year. Interested students should be prepared to come into lab at weird hours and on the weekends, especially if they are working with cells. Working in a lab is a great way to learn more about real scientific research and to augment the biology curriculum though! I certainly have learned more about ovulation than what was covered in intro bio but more importantly, I have learned to be an independent thinker.