Congratulations to Mads Lerdrup
Mads Lerdrup has received DKK 2.993.928, from The Novo Nordisk Foundation for the project “Genome-wide identification of causes for replication stress in infertility“.
During the first cell division in the zygote (i.e. the newly fertilized egg), the DNA-replication is surprisingly challenged, leading to DNA damage, arrested development, and pregnancy loss. The causes for this ‘zygotic replication stress’ are unknown, and this project will establish new DNA-sequencing based technologies to map the parts of the genome that are affected. Specifically, we will explore whether 1) certain genome sequences, structures, or functions cause the zygotic replication stress, 2) DNA from the egg or sperm is particularly affected, or 3) aberrant histone modifications in the egg cause DNA damage in the embryo due to replication stress. This project will improve the understanding of replication stress in the zygote and can thereby pave the way for improved fertility treatment in the future.