Harold R. Behrman, PhD

Nathan Kase called in the spring of 1975 to ask if there might be an interest in joining Yale as Director of Reproductive Biology. As I then held a similar position at the Merck Institute of Therapeutic Research that was well funded and finally running smoothly, my initial reaction was not too enthusiastic. After more thought and Nate's persistence, interviews ensued with the Search Committee made up of Chairman of MB&B (Joe Coleman), Pharmacology (Bob Handschumaker), Physiology (Joe Hoffman), and Biology (Clem Markert). Fortunately, naïveté overrode apprehension from such a prestigious group and Yale became a new home in December of 1975.

The transition from Industry to Academia and the development of a research program was hastened by the generous help of senior members of the Department that included Gertrude VanWagenen, Jack Morris, Ernest Kohorn, Dave Davis, Leon Speroff, and John Hobbins. Junior members of the Department about that time included Peter Schwartz, Alan DeCherney, Dick Berkowitz, Don Coustan, Florence Haseltine, and Mary Lake Polan; all are now international leaders of the profession.

The early 1970s was the beginning of a remarkable epoch in the reproductive sciences with the advent of quantitative hormone analysis by radioimmunoassay and the emerging fields of cell and molecular biology. These developments permitted the direct study of hormone receptors, hormone synthesis and hormone secretion for the first time. This era also marked the beginning of widespread involvement of basic scientists in departments of obstetrics and gynecology across the country. These techniques led quickly to improved diagnosis and treatment, which from an endocrine and ovarian perspective are now commonly used for analysis of infertility, ovulation induction, in vitro fertilization, early detection of pregnancy, hydidiform mole and choriocarcinoma, to name just a few.

The focus of research in the Reproductive Biology Section continues to be on the endocrine control of ovarian function that was sparked by our initial description of the role of prostaglandins as mediators of ovulation and corpus luteum regression. Two decades of research by more than 20 postdoctorate fellows along with 6 graduate, 6 medical, and 5 undergraduate students culminated in more than 130 publications. Their accomplishments included the development of ovarian cell culture systems that permitted analysis of second messenger mediators of gonadotropins and prostaglandins in the regulation of steroidogenesis, adenosine was identified as a potent progonadotropic agent, and activated leukocytes were found to block ovarian cell function by generation of oxygen radicals. More recent accomplishments include the description of the nature and role of antioxidant vitamins in protection against oxygen radicals at corpus luteum regression and this process was found to be associated with the induction of stress proteins by selective activation of specific genes in the corpus luteum.