declining male fertility remain poorly understood, with both genetic and environmental factors likely contributing.
A major barrier to deciphering the environmental impact on the human germline is the lack of an accessible model system that faithfully recapitulates germ cell development in cultured cells. Pluripotent stem cells provide a promising starting point for recreating human germ cell development. However, progress is limited by our incomplete understanding of the cellular microenvironments required for normal germ cell development.
This collaborative project between teams at the University of Warwick and the Karolinska Institutet aims to understand and recreate embryonic microenvironments to promote the development of stem cell-derived germ cells.
Objective 1: Identify signalling cues promoting human germ cell development.
Computational analysis of transcriptomic profiles from human embryonic and laboratory-derived germ cells will identify signalling pathways critical for germ cell development.
Objective 2: Determine the effects of signalling cues on germ cells.
Using microfluidic approaches, we will analyse the effects of candidate signalling cues on the development of stem-cell-derived germ cells.
Objective 3: Engineer organoid systems to promote germ cell development.
CRISPR-mediated genome and epigenome editing will be used to recreate key features of the embryonic germ cell microenvironment and enhance physiological germ cell development in organoids.
Supervisors: Dr Wolfram Gruhn, Dr Vasily Kantsler
