The Lye lab has many research interests in reproductive physiology, including how the uterus becomes activated and stimulated during labour, how the placenta develops properly at the beginning of pregnancy, understanding pre-term labour and the developmental origins of health and disease. The focus of Dr. Lye’s research is to understand the mechanisms responsible for the onset of labour. The research team is investigating whether the change in the myometrium from a dormant state to the contractile state that occurs during labour is caused by the activation of genes. The lab has shown that both mechanical signals due to stretching of the myometrium and endocrine signals are required to activate a cassette of genes called "contractile-associated proteins" (e.g. Cx43 and oxytocin receptor) in order to initiate labour. Dr. Lye and his team are utilizing a genome-wide analysis to predict the onset of human pre-term birth, with the aim of developing a diagnostic test for true pre-term birth. In October of 2008, Miraculins Inc., a medical diagnostic company, executed a license agreement with Mount Sinai Hospital to acquire the rights to commercialize a portfolio of biomarkers for use in developing diagnostic assays for the early detection of preeclampsia in expectant mothers. This portfolio of biomarkers were discovered by Dr. Lye and collaborators Dr. Isabelle Carniggia of the Samuel Lunenfeld Institute and Dr. Martin Post from the Hospital for Sick Children. One of the promising biomarkers is endoglin, a cell surface glycoprotein which increases in week 17 - 20 of gestation and therefore may also play a role in identifying the highest risk patients for preeclampsia.

Dr. Stephen Lye earned his PhD in Reproductive Biology at the University of Bristol in 1980. He then moved to London, Ontario as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Western Ontario and became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1984. In 1988, he joined the University of Toronto as Head of the Division of Perinatology at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute (SLRI). Dr. Lye is the Director of the Research Training Centre and Joint-Head of the Program of Development and Fetal Health at the SLRI as well as holding the position of Vice-President of Research at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. He also currently holds a position as Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology with cross appointments in the Departments of Physiology and Medicine at the University of Toronto. He was Director of the Medical Research Council Program in Birth and Perinatal Development from 1990-1995. Dr. Lye is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Genesis Research Foundation.