Shoukhrat Mitalipov

Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., is Professor and Director of the Center for Embryonic Cell & Gene Therapy at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). His research focuses on cell and gene therapies in reproductive medicine, with an emphasis on preventing inherited disease and treating infertility.

Dr. Mitalipov's laboratory pioneered mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), a technique to replace defective or aged oocyte cytoplasm with that from a young donor oocyte to treat age-onset female infertility. Originally developed to prevent transmission of maternally transmitted mtDNA disorders, MRT has resulted in the birth of hundreds of children. His group is also developing gene editing strategies to correct mutations in gametes and early embryos. In the area of in vitro gametogenesis, his laboratory pioneered mitomeiosis — an approach to generate functional haploid oocytes directly from somatic cells — with potential applications for women lacking functional oocytes.