Faculty and Research Interests

Selma Feldman Siegel Witchel
M.D., University of Pittsburgh

The overall interest of Dr. Witchel's laboratory is to identify the inter-relationships between human genetic variation and endocrine disorders by studying patients that present to the Pediatric Endocrine Division of the School of Medicine. Specific methods include complete phenotyping of the patients, obtaining family pedigrees, hormone determinations, molecular genetic analyses of candidate genes, and the use of primary cell cultures to study ovarian insulin signaling. Using these approaches, the following are under investigation:

1. Molecular genetics of premature adrenarche and polycystic ovary syndrome
2. Ontogeny of gonadotropin secretory dynamics in hyperandrogenism
3. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia
4. Mechanisms of insulin action in the ovary
5. Molecular genetics of testicular descent
6. Clinical management and molecular genetics of disorders of sexual differentiation

Representative Publications

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