Understanding the biology of human embryos and stem cells-v2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding early human development using human embryos created for research or supernumary embryos: towards the refinement of human embryonic stem cell (hES) cultures, characterisation of factors necessary for maintaining pluripotency and specific differentiation towards transplantable tissues.
IRAS ID
272218
Contact name
Kathy Niakan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Francis Crick Institute
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
R0162, HFEA Research Licence Number
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 6 months, 4 days
Research summary
The aim of our research is to understand which genes human embryos require to develop successfully before implantation and to use this knowledge to establish new stem cells. Understanding the function of genes that are essential for human embryo development will be important in assessing whether in vitro fertilization (IVF) technologies could be improved to increase healthy pregnancy outcomes and to provide insights into the causes of some miscarriages. Understanding human embryo development will also have important implications for developing more efficient methods to establish human stem cell lines, thus increasing the quality, number, and utility of human stem cells available for disease modeling and cell transplantation therapies. Human embryonic stem cells have the unique potential to become any cell within the human body and present an unlimited source of cells to serve as models for
understanding diseases, to test the safety and efficacy of new medicines and to cure degenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and diabetes. However, current understanding of the requirements for the establishment of human stem cells from embryos is very limited. We seek to provide fundamental knowledge about human preimplantation development in order to establish clinically useful human embryonic stem cells. We also aim to use this knowledge to establish stem cells that model early placental cells to understand placental failures in pregnancy, such as preeclampsia. The proposed studies for the next 3 years will lead to a deeper understanding of the events underlying early human development, thus promoting insights into the mechanisms of disease and infertility. We collaborate with IVF clinics to provide patients with the option to donate surplus IVF embryos to this research project. The study is supported by the Francis Crick Institute, which receives its core funding from Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EE/0297
Date of REC Opinion
23 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion