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SUMMARY:The Awakening of the Genome: How Embryonic Transcriptional Program
 s are Initiated - Dr. Jasmin Stowers\, Babraham Institute 
DTSTART:20211109T203000Z
DTEND:20211109T220000Z
UID:TALK163504@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Amanda Buckingham
DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\nThe human body arises from only a single cell which 
 harbours the entire genetic information and developmental potential to giv
 e rise to a fully grown organism. This totipotent cell\, the zygote\, unde
 rgoes extensive cellular changes during the first days of early embryonic 
 development. The ‘Awakening of the Genome’ of the zygote is one of the
  key processes of mammalian embryogenesis\, and it comprises of the struct
 ural reorganisation of our genetic code (the genome)\, its modification (t
 he epigenome) and its expression (the transcriptome). Zygotic genome activ
 ation (ZGA) in the 8-cell human embryo represents the first major wave of 
 transcription which initiates protein production and creates all essential
  building blocks of the developing embryo. Failure to initiate ZGA accurat
 ely is fatal for the embryo. Despite its major importance for human reprod
 uction and health\, analysing the totipotent human zygote molecularly and 
 how it activates its genome\, is ethically and technically problematic. He
 re\, we report the finding of a novel in vitro cell type\, that can be use
 d to study the process of embryonic genome activation in stem cells in cel
 l culture. These human ‘8-cell like cells’ resemble the totipotent hum
 an 8-cell embryo at the time of ZGA – transcriptionally\, epigenetically
  and phenotypically. These 8-cell like cells represent a new model system 
 that allows us\, for the first time\, to analyse and manipulate the molecu
 lar processes of human genome activation in a controllable and non-invasiv
 e way in vitro. This will enhance our understanding of one of the earliest
  events in human development – ‘The Awakening of the Genome’.\n\nCOV
 ID-19 Policy\nWe kindly ask attendees to test negative for COVID-19 by lat
 eral flow the day of the event and to not attend the event if they have an
 y symptoms of COVID-19. In addition\, we strongly encourage attendees to h
 ave completed their full course of COVID-19 vaccines prior to the event. P
 lease wear a face covering whilst not eating or drinking.\n\nThis event al
 so will be livestreamed over Zoom.  If you would like to watch the livestr
 eam please register here for the joining details: https://docs.google.com/
 forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf046axP5uJKdZLgkAZdgK6UetIe52MAHS16UqLiRRD5yojRQ/viewfor
 m?fbclid=IwAR2oijquiLvSNMWc0fM2DZOiIRUzVisM2pGSCbduj0N-T0pqDVPeTu2lN3g
LOCATION:The Theatre\, Peterhouse (with Zoom livestream)
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