As urban tree shade shrinks, mortality rises
August 5, 2026
Meet three Northwestern scientists who are reshaping how we think about the ovary — not simply as a reproductive organ, but one of the body’s earliest-aging tissues — and identifying molecular targets that could one day slow its aging.
Women’s health is getting some love at the moment.
From ads about platelet-rich plasma injections or longevity peptide therapy to influencers peddling herbal supplements for hot flashes and brain fog, the anti-ovarian-aging and menopause content is seemingly everywhere for women in midlife.
Noting the increased attention on women’s health, reproductive scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine are concerned it’s misguided, focused on the wrong things and unsubstantiated.
One key takeaway: The ovary is far more than simply a repository for eggs. It is a dynamic organ that produces hormones, communicates with the rest of the body, undergoes aging-related changes and influences women’s health long after its reproductive capabilities have expired.
Ovarian aging is defined by the loss of egg quantity and quality that occurs throughout a woman’s lifetime and has impacts on fertility, hormone function and overall health. Reproductive function begins to decline in women in their mid-30s and ceases completely at the time of menopause. Despite the fact that reproductive aging occurs in women when they are otherwise chronologically young, ovarian aging is still aging.
However, for decades, fertility and menopause experts, reproductive scientists and aging biologists, and other specialists have examined different aspects of the ovary, often in isolation. And girls have learned about their ovaries in the context of periods and pregnancy but haven’t received much information about the influence ovarian hormones have on their bone, heart and brain health as they age.
“One of the big problems that has hindered women’s health is this separation of reproduction and ovarian function, and I think we have to shift that discussion so that it’s across the lifespan,” said reproductive aging scientist Francesca Duncan. “There needs to be more organic interactions among clinicians and scientists who are treating patients or studying biology, respectively, throughout the continuum of women’s health.”
Now, a unique collaboration among Northwestern physician-scientists and basic researchers, including Duncan, is bringing those perspectives together to study the ovary more wholistically. They’re uncovering how ovaries age, developing ways to measure that process noninvasively and identifying molecular targets that could one day slow it.
Looking beyond the egg
The egg has been the star of the show for much of modern reproductive biology.
In fact, Duncan built her career studying eggs, which she calls the most important cells in the body because “they give rise to the next generation.” Then her lab made a serendipitous discovery: As ovaries age, they accumulate scar-like fibrotic tissue and inflammation that can impair ovarian function. Suddenly, Duncan found herself less interested in the egg itself and more interested in the tissue surrounding it.
“It completely derailed me in a good way,” said Duncan, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the division of reproductive science in medicine at Feinberg.
The finding spurred a broader shift in the field. Researchers are increasingly recognizing that aging affects not only the eggs housed within the ovary but also the ovarian environment that supports them. In February, a paper published in Science from scientists in China validated and extended Duncan’s earlier findings about ovarian fibrosis from mice to humans and into clinical practice, which she sees as a major advance for the field. The intensifying focus on this area of research is vital because the ovarian microenvironment may influence fertility, menopause, cancer risk and potentially broader health outcomes, Duncan said.
Duncan’s latest work has pushed that idea even further. In a study published in June, her lab found the post-reproductive ovary in older mice appears to transform into something resembling an immune organ, producing inflammatory signals long after reproduction has ceased.
“I’m obsessed with this concept that the post-reproductive ovary is not defunct,” Duncan said. “It is definitely doing something, but what, we’re still not sure of. I think that’s where we’ll see huge developments in the next 10 years.”
