Mary Herbert

Defective HIRA driven chromatin maintenance underlies age related decline in oocyte quality

This study identifies HIRA SUMOylation as a cause of chromatin instability in aging oocytes, leading to reduced fertility, and shows similar defects in human oocytes.

Spatial atlas of the ovary identifies molecular events in primordial follicle activation in humans

This study creates a comprehensive spatial atlas of the human ovarian cortex, revealing molecular mechanisms of primordial follicle activation and follicle niche organization.

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.

Parental genome unification is highly erroneous in mammalian embryos

The paper identifies an error-prone mechanism of parental genome unification in bovine embryos that leads to aneuploidy, with defects in nucleolar clustering correlating with embryo development failure.

Tex19.1 Regulates Acetylated SMC3 Cohesin and Prevents Aneuploidy in Mouse Oocytes

This study shows Tex19.1 maintains acetylated SMC3 and sister chromatid cohesion in mouse oocytes, preventing aneuploidy.

Kinship Governs Fertility With Pre- And Post-Zygotic Mechanisms Mediated By Match Of Methylation Patterns

The paper shows that kinship affects fly fertility through epigenetic mechanisms involving pre- and post-zygotic processes, induced by a methylating cocktail.