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Project
The search for the origin of chromosomal abnormalities in human preimplantation embryos (FWOAL877)
It has been known since the 1990ies that human preimplantation embryos obtained after in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intacytoplasmic sperm injection display an astonishing frequence - by and large 3/4 of the embryos analyzed - of chromosomal abnormalities. These abnormalities can be inherited from the oocyte or the sperm, but more frequently they occur after fertilisation, during
the first cleavages of the embryo. We want to study the origin of these chromosomal abnormalities through the analysis of the genome and the gene expression patterns in early embryos, between the zygote and 8-cell stage. We will focus on the systems that the cell uses to check mistakes in segregation of abnormal chromosomes, but the analysis of all the genes expressed at such early stages, in combination with chromosomal abnormalities, may yield other markers of genetic health in the early embryo, which may improve IVF efficiency. Moreover, the embryo seems to have ways of dealing with these abnormalities, as at day 5, there seem to be much less abnormalities. This has been coined "self-correction" of the embryo. We want to follow one cell from the 4- or 8-cell stage to the blastocyst stage at day 5 to learn about the evolution of chromosomal abnormalities, and determine the role played by programmed cell death (apoptosis) in this self-correction.
the first cleavages of the embryo. We want to study the origin of these chromosomal abnormalities through the analysis of the genome and the gene expression patterns in early embryos, between the zygote and 8-cell stage. We will focus on the systems that the cell uses to check mistakes in segregation of abnormal chromosomes, but the analysis of all the genes expressed at such early stages, in combination with chromosomal abnormalities, may yield other markers of genetic health in the early embryo, which may improve IVF efficiency. Moreover, the embryo seems to have ways of dealing with these abnormalities, as at day 5, there seem to be much less abnormalities. This has been coined "self-correction" of the embryo. We want to follow one cell from the 4- or 8-cell stage to the blastocyst stage at day 5 to learn about the evolution of chromosomal abnormalities, and determine the role played by programmed cell death (apoptosis) in this self-correction.
Date:1 Jan 2018 → 31 Dec 2021
Keywords:human preimplantation embryo, chromosomal abnormalities, preimplantation genetic testing
Disciplines:Developmental biology