Development of the trophectoderm in the human blastocyst
EGA Institute for Women's Health Early Career Researcher External Invited Speaker Lecturer Series
The specification of the trophectoderm (TE) that gives rise to placental trophoblasts is a critical event in embryogenesis. Defects in this process have consequences for fertility, pregnancy outcome as well as lifelong health. Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating this cell type in the human is lacking. Early pregnancy presents ethical and practical challenges limiting access to the developing conceptus and so the understanding gained from in vitro systems is of paramount importance. Recently derived human trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) and trophoblast organoids (TB-ORGs) now provide models to perform molecular analyses. These, coupled with advances in embryo culture single cell transcriptomics, and molecular tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 provide an unprecedented opportunity to gain progress and novel insights into controlled human placental development, which is the aim of my research.
Norah obtained her PhD from the University of Cambridge where she studied trophoblast biology in the human placenta with a focus on transcriptional dynamics in the syncytiotrophoblast. She subsequently undertook postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Kathy Niakan at the Francis Crick Institute employing single-cell RNA-sequencing, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing and molecular analyses of human embryos to elucidate lineage-specific gene expression. Norah was awarded a King’s Prize Fellowship to establish her independent group at the CSCRM in April 2020.
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