Carole Mendelson, Ph.D.
Professor

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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 The Burroughs Wellcome 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, chaired the Reproductive Scientist Development Program Selection Committee and was 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 was recently elected as Presidential nominee of the Society for Reproductive Investigation and will serve as President in 2021 - 2022. 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.

Undergraduate

City College-Cuny (1964), Biology

Graduate School

Rutgers, the State Uni of Nj (1970), Zoology

• Mechanisms in the initiation of parturition
• Molecular mechanisms in placental development
• Molecular Mechanisms in the developmental, hormonal and tissue-specific regulation of surfactant protein gene expression in fetal lung tissue

Featured Publications

Primate-specific miR-515 family members inhibit key genes in human trophoblast differentiation and are upregulated in preeclampsia.

Zhang M, Muralimanoharan S, Wortman AC, Mendelson CR Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016 Oct

Steroid receptor coactivators 1 and 2 mediate fetal-to-maternal signaling that initiates parturition.

Gao L, Rabbitt EH, Condon JC, Renthal NE, Johnston JM, Mitsche MA, Chambon P, Xu J, O'Malley BW, Mendelson CR J. Clin. Invest. 2015 Jul 125 7 2808-2824

The miR-200 Family and its Targets Regulate Type II Cell Differentiation in Human Fetal Lung.

Benlhabib H, Guo W, Pierce BM, Mendelson CR J. Biol. Chem. 2015 Jul

MicroRNAs-mediators of myometrial contractility during pregnancy and labour.

Renthal NE, Williams KC, Mendelson CR Nat Rev Endocrinol 2013 May

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

Surfactant protein secreted by the maturing mouse fetal lung acts as a hormone that signals the initiation of parturition.

Condon JC, Jeyasuria P, Faust JM, Mendelson CR Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2004 Apr 101 14 4978-83

A 500-bp region, approximately 40 kb upstream of the human CYP19 (aromatase) gene, mediates placenta-specific expression in transgenic mice.

Kamat A, Graves KH, Smith ME, Richardson JA, Mendelson CR Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1999 Apr 96 8 4575-80

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

• President-Elect, Society for Reproductive Investigation
  Society Leadership (2020-2021)
• Sydney H. Ingbar Distinguished Service Award, The Endocrine Society
  Service Award (2019)
• Frederick Naftolin Award for Mentorship, Society for Reproductive Investigation
  Mentorship Award (2017)
• SGI-Pardi President's Distinguished Scientist Award, Society for Reproductive Investigation
  Award for Scientific Excellence (2014)
• Mentor Award, Women in Endocrinology
  Leadership (2010)
• Vice-President, Basic Science, The Endocrine Society
  Leadership (2008-2011)
• Alpha Omega Alpha
  Honor Society (2002)
• Roy O. Greep Award, The Endocrine Society
  Scientific Excellence Award (2001)
• NIH MERIT Award
  Regulation of SP-A Expression in Fetal Lung (1998-2008)