Reproductive challenges of the 21st century

The current world population is close to 8 billion and is increasing at the rate of 2 births/second. The number of children/women required to maintain the population stable is 2.1, a figure largely surpassed in African countries, while Europe and South America are well below the replenishment rate. While Africa requires contraception, in Europe the infertility rate increases and the population becomes older, with sustainability problems in both cases. Reproduction is controlled by hormones, required for the production of gametes. The two pituitary hormones Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and their receptors are crucial for both improving and controlling fertility. We produce new molecular and cellular models to understand how FSH and LH work, and investigate novel approaches to manipulate the reproductive endocrine system, with wide societal impact well beyond individual fertility.