Principal Investigator

Associate Director of the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories, Massachusetts General Hospital
Associate Molecular Biologist, Massachusetts General Hospital
Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School

David Pépin was trained as a molecular and developmental biologist at the University of Ottawa, Canada, where he completed a PhD elucidating the role of chromatin remodeling during ovarian development and in ovarian cancers. In 2011, Dr. Pépin joined the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories as a Research Fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston to continue his training in ovarian cancer research. In 2016, Dr. Pépin established his laboratory as an Assistant Professor in the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories of the Massachusetts General Hospital. His research focuses on women’s health and particularly female reproductive development, ovarian physiology, and ovarian cancer.

Instructor

Marie C. Meinsohn is a postdoctoral fellow in the Pepin Laboratory studying ovarian development, contraception, and ovarian cancer. Dr. Meinsohn holds two master’s degrees, one in Bioengineering and Life Science, and the other in Image Processing, Robotics and Biomedical Engineering, and holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences. Before joining the Pepin Laboratory, Dr. Meinsohn completed her PhD studies at the University of Montreal in the laboratory of Bruce D. Murphy, PhD where she studied the role of the orphan nuclear receptor Nr5a2 on the ovarian function with a focus on granulosa cell proliferation and ovarian reserve activation.

Project: Reversible Contraceptives that Block Primordial Follicles (Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Exploration Challenge)

Research Fellow

Maëva Chauvin joined the Pépin Laboratory in 2020 after completing her PhD at the Institut de Recherche en Cancérologie (Cancer Research Institute) in Montpellier, France, where she studied the role of anti-Müllerian hormone and its receptors in gynecological cancers and developed therapeutic antibodies. She is currently investigating how the AMH/AMHR2 pathway may regulate the tumor microenvironment in ovarian cancer.

Her research focuses on understanding the role of Cancer-Associated Mesothelial Cells (CAMCs) in the ovarian cancer tumor microenvironment. She explores how the cancer secretome and the TGFβ family, including AMH/AMHR2 signaling, drive mesothelial cell reprogramming and contribute to immune evasion and treatment resistance. By combining in vitro and in vivo models, spatial transcriptomics, and advanced immunophenotyping, she aims to characterize the molecular mechanisms governing CAMC differentiation and function.

Research Fellow

Philippe Godin is a trained veterinarian who completed a PhD in ovarian biology in the laboratory of Dr. Derek Boerboom at the Université de Montréal, where he studied the roles of the Hippo signaling pathway in the murine ovulatory cascade.

He joined the Pépin lab in 2022 to work on the development and testing of anti-Müllerian hormone-based contraceptives in female cats and dogs. He combines his expertise on folliculogenesis and ovulation with his veterinary background to improve the current therapies and better understand their mechanism of action in vivo.

He is a board game and rock climbing enthusiast.

Projects: “Single injection of AAV9 Mullerian Inhibiting Substance as an ideal permanent contraceptive” and “Vectored contraception in the female dog by Mullerian inhibiting substance” (The Michelson Found Animals Foundation)

Research Fellow

Phuong Nguyen joined the Pépin lab after completing her Doctor of Philosophy in Human/Medical Genetics at McGill University under the training of Dr. Rima Slim. Dr. Nguyen is currently using single-cell RNA sequencing to study the mechanisms of chemotherapy-related damage on the ovary and uterus, and the protective role of AMH in oncofertility.

Project: Mechanisms of fertility protection by Mullerian inhibiting substance in the female reproductive tract during chemotherapy (NIH, NICHD)

Research Fellow

Karine is a veterinarian with a Master’s degree in Animal Science from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS, Brazil), where she specialized in in vitro fertilization. She earned her PhD in Molecular Medicine in 2024 at Université Laval in the beautiful Québec city (Canada), under the supervision of Dr. Jacques J. Tremblay. Her doctoral research focused on the molecular mechanisms of MEF2 transcription factors in testicular Leydig cells. Since January 2025, she shares her expertise in reproductive biology and molecular endocrinology with members of the Pépin lab.

Project: “Single injection of AAV9 Mullerian Inhibiting Substance as an ideal permanent contraceptive” (The Michelson Found Animals Foundation).

Graduate student

Alana Mermin-Bunnell is currently a PhD student in the Harvard-MIT Health Science and Technology (HST) MEMP Program. She completed her undergraduate degree in bioengineering at Stanford University in 2023, where her thesis described building a low cost, open-source, multimaterial bioprinter. Alana is delighted to be a part of the Pépin lab and pursue her research interests in women’s health, menopause, tissue engineering, and reproductive developmental biology.

Project: Reprogrammed steroidogenic stroma in follicle-depleted ovaries maintains estrogen and testosterone production

Graduate student

Julien Roche-Prellezo holds a Master’s degree in Cancer Biology from the University of Montpellier, France. He completed a Master’s internship in the Pépin lab in 2024, where he investigated the roles of follistatin in ovarian cancer. In 2025, he returned as a PhD student to the Pépin, working under the guidance of Dr. Maëva Chauvin and in collaboration with Dr. Nathalie Bonnefoy’s team at the Institut de Recherche en Cancérologie de Montpellier (IRCM, France). He is currently  investigating the role of cancer-associated mesothelial cells (CAMCs) in ovarian cancer, with the aim of identifying novel therapeutic strategies to overcome tumor resistance.

Project: Investigating the role of cancer-associated mesothelial cells on the tumor immune microenvironment to overcome ovarian cancer resistance

Research Technician II

Nicholas Nagykery is one of the Pépin lab’s skilled research technicians with expertise in developing ELISAs, producing recombinant protein, and performing ex vivo urogenital assays.

Project: Single injection of AAV9 Mullerian Inhibiting Substance as an ideal permanent contraceptive (The Michelson Found Animals Foundation)

Research Technician II

Josephine joined the Pépin Laboratory in 2023. She received her undergraduate degree studying Animal Behavior at Franklin & Marshall college in 2022. Josephine was involved in projects pertaining to wildlife management, migration, and predator and prey dynamics. She also worked as a veterinary technician for a small animal clinic in New Jersey.

Josephine offers a great technical support on a variety of projects in the Pépin laboratory: from the development of safe AMH-based pet contraceptives for pets to AMH applications in women fertility and ovarian cancer treatments.