Understanding human pre- and early post-implantation development
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Integrated understanding of human implantation and its application for basic biology and stem cell research
IRAS ID
368409
Contact name
Kathy Niakan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Cambridge
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
R0162, HFEA Research Licence Number
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The overarching aim of this project is to understand how cells become specialised in the human embryo before, and shortly after, implantation in the uterus.
After an egg is fertilized, human embryonic cells divide and give rise to cells that eventually form the fetus. Another subset of cells form either the placenta or yolk sac, which provide the interface between the fetus and uterus throughout pregnancy. Despite valuable research uncovering mechanisms responsible within animal models, differences between species make this process unclear within humans. Uncovering these mechanisms is essential to understand maternal and fetal health, pregnancy complications, developmental disorders, and stem and progenitor cells.
In the past decade we have made advances in embryo genome engineering, live imaging and multi-omics analysis, which have revealed fundamental mechanisms regulating the first and second cell fate decisions prior to human implantation. We have more recently developed ex vivo models of human endometrial tissue and implantation, and thus we are perfectly poised to comprehensively decipher the next step of human embryogenesis, which is implantation. In the proposed work we will map at unprecedented resolution the cell lineages of human embryos and provide transformative insights into genetic and epigenetic regulation, signalling crosstalk, tissue remodelling and morphogenesis. We aim to generate a comprehensive developmental blueprint for the earliest stages of human life.
A key outcome of this fellowship will be a robust preclinical ex vivo platform to accelerate the development of safe and effective therapeutic interventions. This will enable systematic testing of emerging therapies, including the safety and efficacy of heritable genome editing, refinement of mitochondrial replacement therapy, and treatments for endometrial and placental disorders, as well as evaluation of drug toxicity. The physiological understanding of human embryogenesis will transform the next generation of stem cells, stem cell-based embryo models and organoids.REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/WM/0042
Date of REC Opinion
24 Apr 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Unfavourable Opinion