The role of PRC2 in female reproduction

The remarkable process of reproduction and formation of a healthy baby starts with an egg and sperm. While the egg transmits the mother’s genes to her children, it also provides non-genetic (epigenetic) instructions critical for offspring health. Incredibly, while epigenetic instructions are established in every egg, this process remains poorly understood. Moreover, while the ovary regulates a woman’s fertility, physiology and health, epigenetic regulation of ovary formation is also poorly understood. My thesis explored how epigenetics regulate ovary formation and growth of an egg with all the instructions required for offspring development, providing new insights into female reproductive health, fertility and disease inheritance.