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Healthy egg growth
Over the years it has become clear that a healthy egg is essential for a healthy baby. The research is focused on how healthy eggs develop, grow and mature in the ovary.
Eggs do not develop in isolation as they need close interaction with surrounding ovarian cells (so-called granulosa cells) which provide support and nourishment for growth and maturation. These interactions can take the form of direct cell-cell contact between the egg and the surrounding cells, and one area of Kate’s research is how the egg and the surrounding cells stick to each other. The contact points between cells have two roles, firstly to help cells to adhere to each other and also, very importantly, to send signals to each other which can stimulate cells to divide, grow or die. Different cell types have different types of cell-cell contacts, for example in skin and heart these contacts have to be very strong. Very little is known about the contacts between eggs and granulosa cells and what signals these contacts transmit. The fact that eggs cannot grow without direct contact with granulosa cells shows that these contacts are very important and the purpose of Kate’s research is to find out more about the fine detail of these crucial interactions.
The egg and the surrounding cells can also interact and communicate with each other via a range of diffusible proteins (growth factors) which they secrete. When these proteins touch and bind to adjacent cells they can also signal the cell to divide, grow or die. Therefore, the second area of Kate’s research is to identify these growth factors and the sites on the cell surface to which they bind. So this research is valuable in finding out how growth factors encourage the production of healthy eggs.
It is unquestionably true that understanding more about the basic biology of the egg and its surrounding cells will provide insight into the many disorders of the ovary that result in infertility and miscarriage.