Laurinda A. Jaffe (born January 9, 1952) is an American biologist who is a Professor and chair at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

. Her research considers the physiological mechanisms that regulate

oocyte An oocyte (, ), oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female ...

cell and fertilisation. She was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2021.

Early life and education

Jaffe was born in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. Her father, Lionel F. Jaffe, was a senior scientist at the

Marine Biological Laboratory The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...

in the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

. Her mother, Miriam (Walther) Jaffe, was a professor of astronomy at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

. Jaffe was an undergraduate student at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. After two years, she moved to Purdue University, where she majored in biology. She was a graduate researcher at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, where she worked under the supervision of Susumu Hagiwara. Her doctoral research considered

polyspermy In biology, polyspermy describes the fertilization of an egg by more than one sperm. Diploid organisms normally contain two copies of each chromosome, one from each parent. The cell resulting from polyspermy, on the other hand, contains three or ...

in sea urchin eggs. After graduating, Jaffe worked as a postdoctoral researcher at

with Lewis Tilney and at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

with Meredith Gould.

Research and career

Jaffe studies the physiological mechanisms that regulate

cell and fertilisation. In particular, she is interested in the

meiosis Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately resu ...

process that takes place in mammalian ovarian follicles. Meiosis is a type of cell division that prepares the oocyte for fertilisation. The process begins during embryonic development, and then arrests for a prolonged period of time in a prophase. The follicle (including the oocyte and

granulosa cell A granulosa cell or follicular cell is a somatic cell of the sex cord that is closely associated with the developing female gamete (called an oocyte or egg) in the ovary of mammals. Structure and function In the primordial ovarian follicle, and la ...

s) regulates meiotic progression in the oocyte. She identified the proteins ( G_s protein) and receptors (

GPR3 G-protein coupled receptor 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''GPR3'' gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor family of transmembrane receptors and is involved in signal transduction. GP ...

) that are responsible for meiotic prophase arrests. The activity of these proteins result in the production of

cyclic adenosine monophosphate Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP, cyclic AMP, or 3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate) is a second messenger important in many biological processes. cAMP is a derivative of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and used for intracellular signal transd ...

(cAMP), which keeps the cell cycles arrested. Meanwhile, the granulosa cells within the follicle regulate the hydrolysis of cAMP, a process which involves

cyclic guanosine monophosphate Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is a cyclic nucleotide derived from guanosine triphosphate (GTP). cGMP acts as a second messenger much like cyclic AMP. Its most likely mechanism of action is activation of intracellular protein kinases in r ...

(cGMP) as a

phosphodiesterase inhibitor A phosphodiesterase inhibitor is a drug that blocks one or more of the five subtypes of the enzyme phosphodiesterase (PDE), thereby preventing the inactivation of the intracellular second messengers, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and cyc ...

that maintains high cAMP and meiotic arrest. The signalling system within the

switches in response to the

luteinizing hormone Luteinizing hormone (LH, also known as luteinising hormone, lutropin and sometimes lutrophin) is a hormone produced by gonadotropic cells in the anterior pituitary gland. The production of LH is regulated by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) ...

, which Jaffe has shown lowers the cGMP. This decrease in cGMP can be monitored using

confocal microscopy Confocal microscopy, most frequently confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) or laser confocal scanning microscopy (LCSM), is an optical imaging technique for increasing optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by means of using a s ...

of mice follicles that express the

Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, tha ...

(FRET) sensor cGi500. Jaffe has studied the processes that give rise to the

fibroblast growth factor Fibroblast growth factors (FGF) are a family of cell signalling proteins produced by macrophages; they are involved in a wide variety of processes, most notably as crucial elements for normal development in animal cells. Any irregularities in their ...

(FGF)-induced inhibition of bone growth. Hormonal signalling decreases the amount of cGMP by inactivating

NPR2 Natriuretic peptide receptor B/guanylate cyclase B (atrionatriuretic peptide receptor B), also known as NPR2, is an atrial natriuretic peptide receptor. In humans it is encoded by the NPR2 gene. A mutation of the NPR2 gene can result in dispropo ...

. In the ovaries, this causes the cGMP to resume meiotic function, whilst it diminishes growth within bones.

Awards and honors

* 2007 Elected Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

* 2019

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

MERIT award * 2021 Elected to the

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaffe, Laurinda A. Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science People from Pasadena, California Purdue University alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of California, San Diego faculty University of Connecticut faculty American women biologists 1952 births 21st-century American women