PhD Projects on offer
Reprogramming germ cells for extraembryonic and embryonic development
Supervisor: Professor Azim Surani
Reprogramming in the germ line is critical for conferring a totipotent state that is manifest following fertilisation. This germline reprogramming involves resetting the epigenome in early primordial germ cells that confers properties that is compatible for development of the whole conceptus. Notably, the pluripotent state as observed with pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ES), has the potential to give rise to all the somatic cells as well as the germ line, but ES cells lack the ability to generate and contribute to extraembryonic cells, including the trophoblast cells in vivo and in vitro. It is known that some of the genes that play a role in placental development are reset in the early germ line, but the mechanism involved is not fully known. While expanding our understanding of programming in the gem cell lineage for embryonic and placental development, this knowledge may also ultimately allow possible attempts at transdifferentiation of adult somatic cells directly into extraembryonic tissues.
