Genetic approaches to studying early lineage specification in human embryos

Our current understanding of the requirements for successful human development and the establishment of stem cells from embryos are very limited. Our proposed studies will provide a deeper understanding of the events underlying early human development, thus promoting insights into the mechanisms of disease and infertility. We will develop methods to study the function of genes we predict are fundamentally important for human embryogenesis, within the first week of development. This will allow us to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the establishment and maintenance of embryo, placenta or yolk sac progenitor cells. Our investigations will be important to assess whether IVF technologies could be improved to increase healthy pregnancy outcomes. Understanding human embryo development will also have important implications for developing more efficient methods to establish human stem cell lines, increasing the quality, number, and utility of human stem cells available for cell transplantation therapies and to study degenerative diseases.