The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is conducting research under a $586,783 Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), which oversees the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865). The research aims to investigate how gene expression on the X-chromosome is regulated during embryonic and placental development, and how disruptions to this process can impair the feto-maternal interface within the placenta.
The research project has three main objectives: 1) further defining the role of the XIST B-repeat in placental development, 2) exploring the chromatin state and interactions between the active and inactive X-chromosomes in embryonic and extraembryonic tissues, and 3) uncovering the mechanisms underlying placental defects in mouse hybrid models. This work seeks to elucidate the critical role of X-chromosome dosage compensation in regulating the feto-maternal interface and explain the sensitivity of the placental junctional zone to abnormal X-chromosome expression. The project was awarded on July 15, 2024 and is scheduled for completion on April 30, 2029.
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