# Studying Origin of Human Primordial Germ Cells Using a Synthetic Stem Cell Model

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $195,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
The germ line provides an enduring link between all generations of an organism. In mammals, the primordial
germ cells (PGCs) - the founder cells of the germ line – are specified during early post-implantation embryonic
development. Understanding the development of human PGCs (hPGCs) have important implications for
advancing regenerative medicine and reproductive medicine and contributing to knowledge and models of
human germ cell pathologies. Despite their basic and clinical importance, the origin and specification of
hPGCs remain mysterious due to interspecies divergence and limited accessibility to post-implantation human
embryo samples. The primary goal of this NIH R21 project is to specifically address the great scientific
challenge of studying hPGC development by exploring an in vitro, human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-based
development model that can faithfully recapitulate post-implantation human development including hPGC
specification. Specifically, in our preliminary study, we have successfully developed a hPSC-based, synthetic
microfluidic embryogenesis platform in which key developmental landmarks during early human post-
implantation development can be recapitulated successively in a highly controllable and scalable fashion.
Excitingly, hPGCs emerge spontaneously in the synthetic embryonic tissues generated in the microfluidic
platform, and they demonstrate canonical PGC markers reminiscent to those of monkey PGCs. Thus, our
synthetic microfluidic platform provides a faithful and convenient embryogenesis model that opens up
previously inaccessible phases of hPGC development to experimental studies. This proposed research will
explore this new synthetic microfluidic human development model to study the origin and specification of
hPGCs, by developing a lineage tracing system to track hPGC specification and further sorting out incipient
hPGCs to examine their transcriptome dynamics during their commitment and specification. Successful
accomplishment of this proposed research will lead to the establishment of an innovative microfluidics-based
experimental platform with superior controllability and reproducibility for mechanistic investigations of hPGC
development. By examining the temporal cascade of transcriptomic events that accompany the development
of hPGCs, our research will shed light on genetic requirements and molecular mechanisms of hPGC
development.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10101661
- **Project number:** 5R21HD100931-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Jianping Fu
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $195,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-02-15 → 2023-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10101661

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10101661, Studying Origin of Human Primordial Germ Cells Using a Synthetic Stem Cell Model (5R21HD100931-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10101661. Licensed CC0.

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