Dr. Oksana Shynlova is a research scientist and associate professor dedicated to advancing the field of maternal--fetal medicine and mature women’s health. She obtained her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Palladin Institute of Biochemistry at the National Academy of Sciences in Kiev, Ukraine. She worked as a junior scientist at the Institute of Biochemistry, where her research focused on investigating membrane mechanisms regulating uterine contractility. After moving to Canada, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Lye as a research scientist in the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. She has extensive experience with animal and human studies of preterm labor's etiology (PTL). She established multiple animal models of obstetrical/gynecologic events, including artificial menopause, pseudopregnancy, unilateral pregnancy models, etc. Her current interest is in improving the identification of women at high risk for spontaneous PTL and using animal models of PTL for developing new therapeutic interventions for its prevention. In 2012, Dr. Shynlova joined the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Toronto as an assistant professor. In collaboration with colleagues from the Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Shynlova is researching the fundamental molecular mechanisms of pelvic floor disorders (stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse) in mature women.