Decoding the laws of human primordial germ cell-like cell development.

Objective

Investigating the developmental 'black box' of early human primordial germ cell (hPGC) development has been hindered by inefficient model systems that do not recapitulate in vivo developmental tempo, and that are overly reliant on the use of human embryonic material. This project will develop a new specification and culture protocol for hPGC-like cells (hPGCLCs) that uses human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) in lieu of embryonic material, that is efficient and scalable, and that better recapitulates in vivo development. I intend to identify, isolate and characterise a subpopulation of hPGCLCs that are most developmentally competent using my experience with state of the art low-input methylation and transcriptome sequencing (scM&T-seq) approaches, coupled with an innovative new PGC specification and co-culture system pioneered by the host lab.