Petros Marangos
Group Leader and Professor of Developmental & Reproductive Biology, Department of Biological Applications & Technology, University of Ioannina
The process of Meiosis in mammalian female germ cells is initiated in the ovaries before birth. The total number of oocytes is established in the ovaries during embryogenesis when the germ cells enter Meiosis and remain arrested at Prophase. The quiescent state of Prophase arrest may last for years, and in humans, Prophase arrest may last for up to 50 years. From puberty, oocytes receive a stimulus to grow and obtain the competency to resume Meiosis. This protracted state of arrest renders oocytes extremely susceptible to accumulating environmental or endogenous insults, which may affect the genetic integrity of the female gametes and therefore the genetic integrity of the outcoming embryo. Furthermore, a long-lasting state of arrest affects oocyte physiology and dynamics which lead to the well documented age-related infertility.
Fertility and the physiological embryonic development depend largely on the correct regulation of the cell cycle during gametogenesis and early embryonic development. Our Lab focuses on the examination of cell cycle regulation and the DNA damage response during mammalian oocyte and preimplantation development.
The specific research activities of the Developmental & Reproductive Biology Lab are:
- Cell cycle regulation in mammalian oocytes and pre-implantation embryos.
- DNA damage response in mammalian oocytes and pre-implantation embryos.
- Role and function of oocyte-specific regulators that show oncogenic expression.
- Mechanisms of oocyte aging and the relation of oocyte aging with chromosomal abnormalities and DNA damage.
- Effects of nutritional and anxiety disorders on the development of mammalian oocytes.
