This $360,125 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (CFDA 93.865 - Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research) supports research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMass Medical) to investigate the role of maternal transcripts in reproductive fecundity. The project aims to define how the maternal load is established during oogenesis and decoded after fertilization, with a focus on understanding regulatory events important for reproduction and how environmental factors like temperature influence maternal regulation. Key activities involve using the nematode C. elegans as a model system to study germline development and reproductive biology through molecular genetics, genomics, and mechanistic experiments. The award, effective from July 2024 through March 2029, will enable UMass Medical researchers to conduct this comprehensive, multi-disciplinary research on the temperature sensitivity of reproduction and the importance of post-transcriptional regulation of maternal RNAs for reproductive robustness.