Erica Christine Morton

I study the biology of peritoneal-flap neovaginal tissue — what the tissue does over time, rather than how the surgery went.

The published literature on peritoneal pull-through neovaginoplasty is dominated by surgical outcome data: complication rates, depth, patient-reported satisfaction. Far less exists on the longitudinal biology of the tissue itself — how it establishes a microbiome, how it responds to sustained and cyclical hormone exposure, and how its mucosal behavior changes across months and years. My work sits in that gap.

The method is single-subject and longitudinal. Each study is pre-registered on the Open Science Framework before measurement begins; protocols are fixed in advance, deviations are logged, and raw data and analysis code are published alongside the conclusions. Sampling is dense and sustained in a way a funded, multi-subject study would rarely support.

I am a trans woman, and the anatomy under study is my own. Being both investigator and sole subject is the design's central limitation and its central opportunity: it introduces observer and subject bias that I cannot fully remove, and it lets me observe at a resolution and duration that would otherwise be impractical. I treat the bias as something to declare and constrain, not something to hide.

The research is independent and self-funded. There is no grant cycle to satisfy and no institutional pressure on what gets reported — only a public, time-stamped record that I am accountable to.