Exploration of the oogenic potential of putative germ line stem cells isolated from the ovaries of girls and adult women

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For decades, scientists have believed that women were born with all the eggs they would ever have and that no new ones could ever be made. Recent work has shown that the ovaries of adult women have cells that are capable of forming what appears to be new eggs under certain conditions. The implications of this are potentially enormous. If we could make new eggs we could eventually help restore fertility in women who have become infertile for a variety of reasons, including chemotherapy treatment, early menopause or just normal aging. We need to learn more about these cells and determine the conditions that allow them to form eggs and to know whether the eggs are normal. We have recently isolated two populations of cells and we need to study them in more detail. This project will define the cells that can be isolated from ovarian material from a range of ages. Then using a system where we can grow eggs outside the body (culture system), we will determine whether these cells can form new eggs and whether they are normal. We will also find out the conditions that support this process, The ultimate end point of this work would be to determine whether these cells were capable of forming eggs that could be fertilised and form normal embryos.