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Department of Reproductive Endocrinology Cavazza Lab

Vision

Embryogenesis is a fascinating process. It is essential for reproduction, but it also involves many interrelated processes: cell division, differentiation, chromatin remodeling, embryonic genome activation, and morphogenesis.

Embryogenesis is also highly inefficient: 50% of the fertilised eggs fail to develop into blastocysts, and many blastocysts fail to implant. Such high rates of embryonic failure contribute to the low efficiency of ARTs treatment, but also raise a crucial question: what makes early human embryogenesis inefficient?

Embryogenesis

The Cavazza lab aims to understand the key cellular mechanisms driving early mammalian embryogenesis. Ultimately, our research aims to lay the basis for improving assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), providing better treatments for infertility and preventing genetic diseases.

In our lab, we study how cellular processes control embryogenesis, and how defects in these processes lead to embryonic failure. In addition, we implement genome editing approaches to assess their power and safety, while using them as research tools to address our basic research questions.

To learn more about why our research is important to society, click here.

 

We are also part of the UZH University Research Priority Program "Human Reproduction Reloaded  - H2R". Click here, to find out more about this interdisciplinary program bringing together researchers of different fields.

àWE DO NOT WORK WITH HUMAN EMBRYOS, but rather with bovine embryos.

Studying the causes of embryonic failure in human embryos is difficult due to regulations, material scarcity, and ethical concerns.

Recent work has shown that early bovine embryos share many features of embryogenesis with human embryos, unlike mouse embryos, which differ from other mammalian embryos in several important ways, including the rate of developmental failure (Gerri et al, Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 2020). In addition, the generation of bovine embryos does not require the sacrifice of animals for research, in line with the 3Rs principle of replacement.

We established a method to image live bovine embryos quantitatively and at high resolution (see á) and visualise how aneuploidy arises in the zygote (Cavazza et al, Cell, 2021). This method puts us in a unique position to address key unanswered questions in embryogenesis.

You find more details about our ongoing research here.