Alain Chédotal

(Vision Institute / INSERM, Paris)

3D analysis of human embryonic development

17th June 2022 | 5.30 pm (UK)

Venue: McCrum Lecture Theatre Benet's Street,CB2 3QN

Registration link here

Registration needed. A drinks reception will follow the talk

Abstract

The recent development of tissue clearing methods allows to explore intact organs at subcellular resolution with light-sheet fluorescence microscopes (LSFM). Combining whole- mount immunostaining and 3D imaging of solvent-cleared organs with LSFM, we could describe the 3D organization of several organs and systems in transparent human embryos and fetuses. Tissue-clearing and 3D imaging can be used to study embryology and evolution in many animal models. I will present our application of 3D imaging to the analysis of sex differentiation in humans. To better understand this process, we now use 3D imaging to probe the dynamics of gonadal cell distribution at critical stages during testis and ovary formation. We have started to reconstruct the spatiotemporal cascade of cellular events that accompany the process of sex determination in the gonads and genital tubercles. I will also present applications of 3D imaging to the analysis of human head development and lung branching morphogenesis in the lung.