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Jema Lee: Amazing Research Has Uncovered Something New About the Menstrual Cycle
Jema Lee/LinkedIn
Aug 28, 2026, 16:58

Jema Lee: Amazing Research Has Uncovered Something New About the Menstrual Cycle

Jema Lee, Founder and Lead Teacher at Cyclical School, shared on LinkedIn:

“Amazing research has just uncovered something new about the menstrual cycle.

We’ve long known the uterus sheds most of its inner lining every cycle, then repairs itself and rebuilds up to a centimetre of new tissue. More than 400 times across a lifetime. No other organ in the body does anything close to it.

But exactly how that rebuild happens, cell by cell, has stayed largely a mystery.

A Melbourne-led team at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash University, working with the University of Queensland, has just produced the largest gene expression profile to date of individual human endometrial stem and progenitor cells involved in that rebuild.

Led by Professor Caroline Gargett, whose team first identified these cells more than two decades ago.

They found MUSTN1, a molecule not previously described in mesenchymal stem cells from other tissues.

Here’s why that matters beyond the lab.

  • At least 1 in 7 Australian women and girls are affected by endometriosis. 
  • Diagnosis is often delayed by an average of 6 to 8 years from symptom onset.

A 2017 Australian study estimated the average cost at $30,900 per person each year. 84% of it was from lost productivity rather than direct healthcare.

For people reporting severe pain, estimated costs were six times higher than for those reporting minimal pain.

Nationally, the total economic burden of endometriosis has been estimated at $7.4 to $9.7 billion a year.

Adenomyosis and recurrent implantation failure also raise important questions about endometrial function and repair.

This is the most detailed molecular profile yet of these rare human endometrial stem and progenitor cells (the rare cells that help repair and regrow the uterine lining after menstruation).

Not a cure. Not a diagnosis tomorrow. But a genuine new foundation for understanding conditions that have kept women waiting years for an answer.

The body most of us were never taught to understand is still being figured out. In real time.

What’s one thing about your own body you only found out well into adulthood?”

Stay informed with the latest updates in fertility and reproductive medicine on Fertility News.

adenomyosis Caroline Gargett Endometrial Research Endometrial Stem Cells endometriosis endometrium Fertility Fertility News Jema Lee menstrual cycle Menstrual Health OBGYN Recurrent Implantation Failure reproductive health Reproductive Medicine Stem Cell Research Uterine Lining Women’s Health
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