Center for Men's Health
Harbor-UCLA Medical Canter and Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute
Location:	Harbor-UCLA Medical Center 1000 W. Carson St. Torrance, Ca 90502 Torrance, CA, 90502
Email:	Swerdloff@labiomed.org
Phone Number:	310-222-1869
Web Address:	N/A
Description:	Related Resources & Cores General Clinical Research Center The Center for Men's Health (also referred as the Male Reproductive Research Center) is directed by Ronald Swerdloff, MD and Christina Wang, MD. It is a Collaborating Center for Human Reproduction of the World Health Organization and an NICHD-funded Contraceptive Clinical Trial Network Center. It is the home for a NIH Training Grant in Endocrinology for the past 35 years and an accredited training center for the European Academy of Andrology. The research focus is on male contraceptive development, androgen pharmacokinetics and metabolism, androgen replacement therapy, aging male, and basic research studies on regulation of spermatogenesis, germ cell apoptosis and a mouse model for XXY syndrome. The center has led many national studies on methods of androgen replacement and male contraceptive clinical trials and will be a principal site for the forthcoming Androgen Effects on the Aging Male Studies. The clinical facilities consist of approximately 1,200 sq ft in the Martin Research Building (RB1). There are 3 offices for research coordinators, 4 examination rooms and a subject waiting area. The 4 examination rooms are devoted to clinical research activities of the Male Reproductive Research Center, contain all necessary equipment for full physical examinations, hormone perturbation testing, phlebotomy and are designed for privacy for semen collection. The semen analysis laboratory (Andrology Core Laboratory) located in the adjacent space is equipped with an Olympus BH-2 microscope both for light and fluorescence microscopy with a camera attached to the exposure control unit. Another Olympus BH-2 microscope is used for assessment of sperm morphology. The laboratory also has a Hamilton-Thorne Research computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) system. The center is supported by the Endocrine Research Laboratory which is licensed by the State of California and CLIA and operates under Good Laboratory Practices. Hormone assays regularly performed include testosterone, free testosterone, DHT, FSH, LH, estradiol, SHBG, levonorgestrel, inhibin, prolactin, DHEA, DHEA-sulfate and urine and serum bone markers by radioimmunoassays (RIAs), fluoroimmunoassays (FIAs), immunoradiometric assays, ELISA, and mass spectrometry. The laboratory participates in external quality control programs run by the College of American Pathologists. This laboratory provides services for some hormones not done by the Harbor-UCLA GCRC Core Laboratory and for industry-sponsored studies. In 2006 and 2007, many of the steroid hormone assays will transitioned to use the new state of the art LC-MSMS platform.