The people behind the papers - Mala Mahendroo and Shanmugapriyaa Madhukaran.

In the female reproductive tract, species-specific progenitor populations in the cervix - stratified squamous progenitors in mice and columnar progenitors in humans - generate similar secretory epithelial subtypes with conserved functions. In their work, Mala Mahendroo and colleagues reveal the cellular origins of mucus-producing goblet cells by identifying olfactomedin 4 (Olfm4) as a progenitor lineage marker for goblet cells in the mouse cervix and vagina. To learn more about their work, we talked to the first author, Shanmugapriyaa Madhukaran, as well as the corresponding author, Mala Mahendroo, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA.