Carole Mendelson, Ph.D.

Carole Mendelson received a B.S. in Biology from the City College of New York and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. She spent five years as a postdoctoral and then Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. She joined the faculty of UT Southwestern in 1978. Research in the Mendelson laboratory is focused on reproductive and perinatal biology and includes: (1) genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in the developmental, hormonal and tissue-specific regulation of the gene encoding SP-A, the major protein of pulmonary surfactant; (2) transcriptional regulation of aromatase (CYP19) gene expression in estrogen-producing tissues and in pathologic states, including endometriosis, cancer and preeclampsia; (3) regulatory mechanisms involved in maintenance of uterine quiescence during pregnancy and activation of contractile genes leading to term and pre-term labor. Dr. Mendelson’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health and March of Dimes Foundation. She held an NIH MERIT Award from 1998 – 2008.

Dr. Mendelson served as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH, and currently chairs the Reproductive Scientist Development Program Selection Committee and is a member of the Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award Advisory Committee. She is active within The Endocrine Society (TES), in which she has chaired a number of committees and served as a member of Council and as Vice President for Basic Scientists from 2008 – 2011. She also has been active in several committees that support the career advancement of women in science and medicine. She was president of Women in Endocrinology of TES. Within UT Southwestern, she co-chairs the Women in Science and Medicine Advisory Committee and chairs the Committee on the Advancement of Women.

Undergraduate	City College of New York (1964), Biology
Graduate School	Rutgers University New Brunswick (1970), Zoology

• Mechanisms in the initiation of parturition
• Molecular Mechanisms in the developmental, hormonal and tissue-specific regulation of surfactant protein gene expression in fetal lung tissue
• Molecular mechanisms in the regulation of aromatase in estrogen-producing cells

Featured Publications

MicroRNA-200a serves a key role in the decline of progesterone receptor function leading to term and preterm labor.

Williams KC, Renthal NE, Condon JC, Gerard RD, Mendelson CR Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2012 May 109 19 7529-34

Epigenetic regulation of surfactant protein A gene (SP-A) expression in fetal lung reveals a critical role for Suv39h methyltransferases during development and hypoxia.

Benlhabib H, Mendelson CR Mol. Cell. Biol. 2011 May 31 10 1949-58

miR-200 family and targets, ZEB1 and ZEB2, modulate uterine quiescence and contractility during pregnancy and labor.

Renthal NE, Chen CC, Williams KC, Gerard RD, Prange-Kiel J, Mendelson CR Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2010 Nov 107 48 20828-33

Expression of surfactant protein by the fetal lung signals the initiation of labor

Condon JC, Pancharatnam J, Faust JM, Mendelson CR Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004 101 4978-4983

Potential role of nuclear factor kB and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cAMP and cytokine regulation of surfactant protein-A gene expression in lung type II cells

Islam K, Mendelson CR Mol Endocrinol 2002 16 1428-1440

Regulation of the synthesis of the major surfactant apoprotein in fetal rabbit lung tissue

Mendelson CR, Chen C, Boggaram V, Zacharias C, Snyder JM J Biol Chem 1986 261 9938-9943

Isolation and characterization of a complementary DNA specific for human aromatase cytochrome P-450 mRNA

Evans CT, Ledesma DB, Schulz TZ, Simpson ER, Mendelson CR Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1986 83 6387-6391

Estrogen-Related Receptor ? (ERR?) Regulates Oxygen-Dependent Expression of Voltage-gated Potassium (K+) Channels and Tissue Kallikrein during Human Trophoblast Differentiation.

Luo Y, Kumar P, Mendelson CR Mol. Endocrinol. 2013 Apr

The c-Myc Regulated microRNA (miR)-17~92 and miR-106a~363 Clusters Target CYP19A1 and hGCM1 to Inhibit Human Trophoblast Differentiation.

Kumar P, Luo Y, Tudela C, Alexander JM, Mendelson CR Mol. Cell. Biol. 2013 Feb

Mice deficient in surfactant protein A (SP-A) and SP-D or in TLR2 manifest delayed parturition and decreased expression of inflammatory and contractile genes.

Montalbano AP, Hawgood S, Mendelson CR Endocrinology 2013 Jan 154 1 483-98

• Mentor Award
  Women in Endocrinology (2010)
• Vice-President, Basic Science
  The Endocrine Society (2008)
• Alpha Omega Alpha
  Honor Society (2002)
• Roy O. Greep Award
  The Endocrine Society (2001)
• NIH MERIT Award
  Regulation of SP-A Expression in Fetal Lung (1998)