Project

Exploring germinal vesicle transfer to reduce aneuploidy in human oocytes

Code
1198626N
Duration
01 November 2025 → 31 October 2029
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Research disciplines
  • Medical and health sciences
    • Embryology
    • Reproductive medicine
Keywords
Human Aneuploidy Germinal vesicle transfer
 
Project description
Subfertility and recurrent pregnancy loss are recognized as a global public health concern, with oocyte aneuploidy—i.e. having an abnormal number of chromosomes—being a significant female-related cause. Aneuploidy arises from errors in chromosome segregation during the meiotic divisions of the oocyte. In human assisted reproductive technologies, the standard approach involves controlled ovarian stimulation to retrieve multiple mature oocytes. However, at the time of oocyte retrieval after ovarian stimulation, more than 20% of the oocytes are aneuploid. Extensive research has focused on unraveling the mechanisms of aneuploidy, revealing certain essential cytoplasmic factors to be deficient in aneuploid oocytes. In recent years, the innovative technique of nuclear transfer has been developed, in which the cytoplasm of a lower-quality oocyte is replaced with that of a competent donor oocyte, addressing these deficiencies that would otherwise lead to aneuploidy. As more than 70% of the embryonic aneuploidies originate during maternal meiosis I, we should perform nuclear transfer prior to the completion of the first meiotic division in the oocyte, i.e. at the immature stage of the germinal vesicle oocyte (germinal vesicle transfer). In conclusion, the aim of this study is to investigate whether the application of germinal vesicle transfer in human germinal vesicle oocytes can reduce the frequency of aneuploidy in the resulting mature oocytes and embryos.