Illuminating unpredicted cellular machineries in gonad development, germ cell production, and reproduction
Developing eggs and sperm must execute fascinating, dynamic, and precise cellular programs for successful fertilization, embryonic development, and reproduction. For example, in humans, early oogenesis in the developing fetus determines by birth the number and quality of eggs for the entire person’s lifespan, and defects in those early programs cause miscarriages, infertility and gonadal tumors. However, we still lack fundamental understanding of the natural processes.
To investigate those early biological processes, we have formulated an interdisciplinary and morphologically holistic approach to the developing zebrafish gonads, where gonad development and germ cell production are conserved with those in humans. Deciphering mechanisms of germ cell development in humans is challenging for obvious ethical and technical reasons, and the zebrafish is a powerful model system, including for human biology. We use a diverse and efficient toolkit. We have pioneered the view of oogenesis by advanced microscopy of whole ovaries, including by live time-lapse imaging and manipulations, as well as deep-learning image analyses.
We combine our imaging-based methodologies, with a repertory of genetic, biochemical, proteomic, and genomic approaches. Our newly developed long-term ovary (and testes) ex-vivo culture system, comprises a game-changer in the field, enabling live imaging of prolonged processes and a plethora of robust experimental opportunities.
As largely overlooked developing organs, the developing gonads provide a fruitful source for fascinating new biology with wide important implications to multiple fields. Utilizing our holistic approach, we excavate the unexplored territory of the developing gonads and illuminate unpredicted cellular machineries in germ cell development and reproduction.
– Star Trek: Enterprise
Using our unique approach, every time we look – we see something new!
We follow our original observations to generate new hypotheses and lead meaningful investigations off the beaten track.
We seek to make important discoveries in cell and developmental biology, and our approach has resulted in several breakthroughs that form the major research programs in our lab.
