In mouse oocytes, acentriolar microtubule organizing centers (green) form the spindle.

Schuh, M., and Ellenberg, J. (2008). A new model for asymmetric spindle positioning in mouse oocytes. Curr. Biol. 18, 1986-92.

Schuh, M., and Ellenberg, J. (2007). Self-organization of MTOCs replaces centrosome function during acentrosomal spindle assembly in live mouse oocytes. Cell 130, 484-498.

Kudo, N.R., Wassmann, K., Anger, M., Schuh, M., Wirth, K.G., Xu, H., Helmhart, W., Kudo, H., McKay, M., Maro, B., Ellenberg, J., de Boer, P. & Nasmyth, K. (2006). Resolution of chiasmata in oocytes requires separase-mediated proteolysis. Cell 126, 135-146.

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Miscarriages and genetic disorders such as Down's or Klinefelter's syndrome are most commonly caused by errors during the development of the human egg cell. An egg cell develops out of a progenitor cell, the primary oocyte, in a poorly understood process termed meiotic maturation. To become a fertilizable egg, an oocyte has to eliminate half of the chromosomes into a small polar body, because the other half will be contributed by the sperm during fertilization. Errors during chromosome elimination result in aneuploid embryos and thus miscarriages, genetic disorders, or even infertility.

Our aim is to better understand the causes of these defects. For this purpose, we work with mouse oocytes, because they are the best model for human oocytes that can be studied with state-of-the-art molecular cell biology and genetic tools. Moreover, we established techniques that allow us to analyze live oocytes throughout meiotic maturation by high resolution quantitative confocal microscopy.

With this powerful experimental system, we already investigated how the acentrosomal meiotic spindle is assembled and how it is asymmetrically positioned before polar body extrusion. Our long term goal is to understand how the key steps of oocyte maturation are controlled and how they ensure that the egg cell can give rise to a healthy embryo.

Post-doc and PhD postion available

Contact Melina Schuh
(mschuh@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk)