Supervisor: Dr. Isabelle Migeotte
Mammalian embryos rely on exchanges between the maternal tissues and the extraembryonic membranes (amnion, yolk sac, umbilical cord, and placenta) for protection, nutrition, gas exchange and waste elimination. Specifically, the umbilical cord and placenta form the interface between the maternal and fetal vasculatures.
We have recently established tools to
– record the morphogenesis of these vascular systems in a physiological 3D setting through culture and live imaging of whole embryos and tissue explants that carry endothelial cell-specific fluorescent reporters.
– microdissect the YS, allantois, and placenta of embryos expressing a reporter for arterial fate at various timepoints, in order to perform single cell RNA Sequencing and proteomic analysis.
In parallel, we are prospectively collecting human umbilical cord and placenta samples from both normal and pathological pregnancies on which we aim to perform transcriptomic, proteomic, and histological analysis.
The goal of the PhD project will be to help integrate the morphological and -omics data obtained in 2024-2025 from the mouse and human samples (bioinformatics/data analysis exploratory part, together with the current leaders of the project) and to follow up on a few molecular targets that will be tested in mouse embryos as well as in stem cells derived embryo models (hypothesis based experimental part).
Together, these experiments will aim to enhance our understanding of umbilical cord and placenta formation, which are critical for preventing pregnancy complications. Additionally, the insights gained from these studies may contribute to the development of advanced stem cell-based models that can simulate both normal and pathological conditions in umbilical cord development and placentation.