Phil Snell

A blastocyst-derived in vitro model of the human chorion

This paper develops an in vitro model of the human chorion using blastocysts to generate trophoblast organoids and extraembryonic mesoderm cells, enabling study of placental development and pathophysiology.

Suppression of ERK signalling promotes pluripotent epiblast in the human blastocyst

The paper shows that inhibiting ERK signaling expands epiblast cells capable of becoming naive pluripotent stem cells in humans, while FGF stimulation expands hypoblast markers.

Live imaging human embryos reveals mitotic errors and lineage specification prior to implantation

This study uses live imaging to show mitotic errors and lineage plasticity in human embryos before implantation, revealing implications for aneuploidy mosaicism.

Transcription factor-based transdifferentiation of human embryonic to trophoblast stem cells

The paper identifies transcription factors that can convert human embryonic stem cells into trophoblast stem cells, revealing their role in early placental development.

MICA: A multi-omics method to predict gene regulatory networks in early human embryos

The paper evaluates gene regulatory network prediction methods in early human embryos, finding that MICA, combining mutual information with chromatin accessibility, provides more reproducible and biologically meaningful results.

Delay of human early development via in vitro diapause

This study shows that human blastoids and pluripotent stem cells can enter a dormant state via mTOR inhibition, with distinct temporal dynamics compared to mice.

A conserved role of Hippo signaling in initiation of the first lineage specification event across mammals

The paper investigates the conservation of Hippo signaling in the first lineage specification event across four mammalian species, finding that inhibiting the Hippo pathway drives ectopic trophectoderm initiation in all species.

KLF17 promotes human naïve pluripotency but is not required for its establishment

The paper shows KLF17 can induce a naive-like transcriptome in primed hESCs but is not required for naive pluripotency establishment in vitro.