While birth control pills have sexually liberated women, they're having serious side effects on the sex organs of some British fish. Water polluted with hormones from contraceptives has been blamed for underdeveloped testes in male fish living downstream of at least one major urban centre in England. The fish that developed small testes were ingesting steroids metabolized from the pills.

    Luckily, York biology professor Chun Peng may be able to help. Peng has a three-year Medical Research Council grant to support her work on Activin (a hormone) receptors in human placenta, and a four-year Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grant to study its role in fish reproduction.

    "Activin is one of the critical regulators of reproduction. We don't understand how the mechanism works exactly, but we're hoping to figure out the physiological role it plays in regulating ovarian and placental functions. There may be implications for the treatment of infertility ­ perhaps even birth control."

    Peng hopes her ongoing research on hormones will help develop birth control that doesn't rely on steroids to help treat infertility, and prevent miscarriages and pre-term labour. Her early research as a graduate student contributed to the development of a new product that is being manufactured by a Vancouver company (and used worldwide to induce spawning in fish).

    Peng says she's dedicated to realizing practical results from her work. For example, she's initiated a collaboration with scientists in Spain to use hormones to produce all-female stocks of sea bass. "I want to transfer knowledge from laboratory research into practical applications such as aquaculture and disease diagnosis."