Professor Soares was born November 26, 1954 in Chico, California. He received his undergraduate training at California State University, Chico where he received a B.A. degree in Psychology in 1976. In 1981, Professor Soares completed his Ph.D. degree in Reproductive Biology at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu in the laboratory of Professor Joan C. Hoffmann. From 1981 to 1983, he received postdoctoral training in endocrinology at the University of California, Santa Cruz under the guidance of Professor Frank Talamantes.
Additional postdoctoral training in cell biology was obtained at Baylor College of Medicine under the direction of Professor Stanley R. Glasser. A National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health supported Professor Soares' postdoctoral training. In 1984, Professor Soares was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He progressed through the academic ranks and in 1993 was promoted to the position of Professor of Physiology.
Professor Soares is internationally recognized for his novel and innovative scientific achievements in the field of reproductive endocrinology. His laboratory is actively investigating mechanisms that underlie viviparity. These efforts include research on: 1) trophoblast cell differentiation and uteroplacental morphogenesis; 2) biology of the uteroplacental prolactin cytokine family; 3) trophoblast cell invasion/preeclampsia; 4) maternal adaptations to pregnancy. His laboratory has identified molecular mechanisms (including ligands, receptors, intracellular regulatory molecules, and transcription factors) regulating the endocrine, invasive, and transport properties of differentiating trophoblast cells. These findings have facilitated the identification of sensitive junctures in regulatory pathways potentially underlying developmental disorders, including those associated with the initiation of pregnancy, preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and gestational trophoblast disease. Professor Soares' laboratory has discovered several members of a cytokine/hormone family produced by the uterus and placenta.
The proteins, their posttranslational modifications, their cDNAs and genes, their patterns of expression, and their functions have been extensively investigated by Professor Soares' laboratory. Evidence is accumulating that these cytokines/hormones participate in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. These significant research efforts have necessitated the development of new experimental models and reagents. To this end, Professor Soares' laboratory has established in vitro culture models for trophoblast and decidual cells and an assortment of immunological, molecular reagents, and recombinant proteins. Collectively, these experimental tools have not only benefited Professor Soares' research program, but their value has been recognized by others, and the tools have been distributed to numerous laboratories located throughout the world.
For the past 16 years, Professor Soares' research has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health and has resulted in the publication of over 140 reports, including a collection of outstanding comprehensive reviews of the field. Professor Soares has served as a member of the editorial boards for the journals, Biology of Reproduction, Trophoblast Research, Endocrinology, and Journal of Endocrinology and on a National Institutes of Health Advisory panel in Human Embryology and Development. He has also served the Society for the Study of Reproduction as a member of the Program (1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002) and Publications (2001-present) Committees and the Endocrine Society as a member of the Membership Committee (1998-2001).
Professor Soares currently is one of the Senior Editors for the Journal of Endocrinology. Professor Soares has been involved in organizing meetings on uteroplacental biology, including a 1992 Serono-sponsored symposium on "Trophoblast Cells" held in Las Vegas, Nevada, which formed the basis for a book edited by Professor Soares and others. He has been recognized for his research on the placenta by the University of Kansas School of Medicine with a Faculty Research Award in 1989, by the University of Tokyo with a Distinguished Visiting Scientist Award in 1994, by the European Placental Group with the Adriana and Luisa Castellucci Award Lecture in 1995, with a lecture at the Presidential Symposium during the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction in 1997, and the University of Kansas Chancellor's Club Award in 2001.
Professor Soares has also directly supervised the training of twenty-one postdoctoral fellows and five graduate students, served as Director of an NIH-sponsored training program in Reproductive Biology (1996-2000), and is currently Associate Director of the University of Kansas Medical Center Training Program in Biomedical Research. In July of 2002, Dr. Soares was appointed Director of the newly established Institute of Maternal-Fetal Biology at the University of Kansas. In August of 2004, Dr. Soares joined the Division of Cancer & Developmental Biology in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
Stacy (Stith) McClure was born April 5, 1975 in Chillicothe, Missouri. She received her undergraduate training at Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, Missouri, where she received a B.S. degree in Public Relations. Upon graduation, Stacy began employment with Newhouse, a domestic violence shelter serving women and children in the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan area. Stacy worked as a development associate and her duties included managing volunteers, coordinating the Speaker's Bureau, soliciting and managing in-kind donations, entering contributions into the database (Raiser's Edge), generating reports, planning and implementing special events and fundraisers, and researching and writing grant proposals.
In March of 2002, Stacy began work at Faith Friends, a State-funded non-profit mentoring program for people moving from welfare to work. Stacy's duties included all administrative duties, writing grant proposals, and designing brochures, invitations, and other marketing materials. In September of 2002, Stacy began work at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Stacy works as administrative assistant for the Institute of Maternal-Fetal Biology, under the direction of Dr. Michael J. Soares, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Division of Cancer and Developmental Biology, and Director of the Institute of Maternal-Fetal biology. Her duties include promoting the institute via brochures, press releases, Web site, special events and fundraisers.
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