Margherita Yayoi Turco
Group News
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Jan 25, 2024 ‘Mini-placentas’ shed light on early events that are key for a successful pregnancy |
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Jan 17, 2024 Scientists grow 'mini-placentas' to understand pregnancy disorders |
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Jan 17, 2024 Cambridge lab grows 'mini-placentas' for pre-eclampsia study |
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Jan 17, 2024 Lab-grown ‘mini placentas’ could hold key to better understanding pre-eclampsia |
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Jan 17, 2024 Lab-grown ‘mini placentas’ could hold key to better understanding pre-eclampsia |
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Margherita Yayoi Turco
Human placental development and the uterine microenvironment
We are interested in understanding how cells acquire their specific identities and how tissues are built through their interactions in the context of reproduction. Reproduction is a requirement for the continuation of all living species and there is a wide range of strategies. Mammals are defined by their ability for viviparity - the development of the embryo inside the body - made possible by the fetal placenta and its interactions with the maternal uterus. In humans, these tissues are in close apposition as specialized trophoblast cells of the placenta infiltrate deep into the uterus. This is an intriguing and crucial process in which two different tissues (placenta and uterus) from two genetically distinct individuals (fetus and mother) become a functional unit for a defined period of time.
Abnormal development of the placenta and deficient interactions with the uterus underlie the major pregnancy disorders including miscarriage, pre-eclampsia and stillbirth. However, our understanding of the cellular and molecular interactions that occur in early pregnancy is limited due to practical and ethical reasons and until recently, the lack of physiologically relevant in vitro models. A few years ago, our lab developed 3D organoid culture systems of the human placenta and the uterus which recapitulate key morphological, functional and transcriptional features of their tissue of origin, making the study of early pregnancy much easier.
Our goal is to use these multicellular systems combined with gene editing, single cell and tissue engineering approaches, to define the molecular mechanisms that govern the generation of the functional lineages of each tissue and to investigate the nature of the maternal-fetal interactions in vitro. This will allow us to finally address the long-standing and fundamental question in human developmental biology and reproduction: how does the placenta develop and how is this process influenced by the maternal uterine microenvironment?
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Margherita Yayoi Turco
This is a list of selected publications from this group. For a full list of publications, please visit our Publications page and search by group name.
Arutyunyan A, Roberts K, Troulé K, Wong FCK, Sheridan MA, Kats I, Garcia-Alonso L, Velten B, Hoo R, Ruiz-Morales ER, Sancho-Serra C, Shilts J, Handfield LF, Marconato L, Tuck E, Gardner L, Mazzeo CI, Li Q, Kelava I, Wright GJ, Prigmore E, Teichmann SA, Bayraktar OA, Moffett A, Stegle O, Turco MY, Vento-Tormo R (2023) Spatial multiomics map of trophoblast development in early pregnancy
Nature. 2023 Mar 29Garcia-Alonso L, Handfield LF, Roberts K, Nikolakopoulou K, Fernando RC, Gardner L, et,al. (2021) Mapping the temporal and spatial dynamics of the human endometrium in vivo and in vitro.
Nat Genet. 2021 Dec;53(12):1698-1711Sheridan MA, Zhao X, Fernando RC, GArdner L, Perez-Garcia V, Li Q, Marsh SGE, Hamilton R, Moffett A, Turco MY (2021) Characterization of primary models of human trophoblast
Development . 2021 Nov 1;148(21):dev199749Cindrova-Davies T, Zhao X, Elder K, Jones CJP, Moffett A, Burton GJ, Turco MY. (2021) Menstrual flow as a non-invasive source of endometrial organoids.
Communications Biology. 2021 Jun 17;4(1):651.Perez-Garcia V, Lea G, Lopez-Jimenez P, Okkenhaug H, Burton GJ, Moffett A, Turco MY, Hemberger M. (2021) BAP1/ASXL complex modulation regulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition during trophoblast differentiation and invasion.
eLife. 2021 Jun 25;10:e63254.Nikolakopoulou K, Turco MY (2021) Investigation of infertility using endometrial organoids
Reproduction. 2021 May;161(5):R113-R127Alzamil L, Nikolakopoulou K, Turco MY. (2021) Organoid systems to study the human female reproductive tract and pregnancy.
Cell Death & Differentiation. 2021 Jan;28(1):35-51.Sheridan MA, Fernando RC, Gardner L, Hollinshead MS, Burton GJ, Moffett A, Turco MY. (2020) Establishment and differentiation of long-term trophoblast organoid cultures from the human placenta.
Nature Protocols. 2020 Oct;15(10):3441-3463.Abbas Y, Brunel LG, Hollinshead MS, Fernando RC, Gardner L, Duncan I, Moffett A, Best S, Turco MY, Burton GJ, Cameron RE. (2020) Generation of a three-dimensional collagen scaffold-based model of the human endometrium.
Interface Focus. 2020 Apr 6;10(2):20190079.Turco MY, Moffett A. (2019) Development of the human placenta.
Development. 2019 Nov 27;146(22):dev163428.Turco MY, Gardner L, Kay RG, Hamilton RS, Prater M, Hollinshead MS, McWhinnie A, Esposito L, Fernando R, Skelton H, Reimann F, Gribble FM, Sharkey A, Marsh SGE, O'Rahilly S, Hemberger M, Burton GJ, Moffett A. (2018) Trophoblast organoids as a model for maternal-fetal interactions during human placentation.
Nature. 2018 Dec;564(7735):263-267.Lee CQE, Turco MY, Gardner L, Simons BD, Hemberger M, Moffett A. (2018) Integrin a2 marks a niche of trophoblast progenitor cells in first trimester human placenta.
Development. 2018 Apr 16;145(16):dev162305.Vento-Tormo R, Efremova M, Botting RA, Turco MY, Vento-Tormo M, Meyer KB, Park JE, Stephenson E, Polanski K, Goncalves A, Gardner L, Holmqvist S, Henriksson J, Zou A, Sharkey AM, Millar B, Innes B, Wood L, Wilbrey-Clark A, Payne RP, Ivarsson MA, Lisgo S, Filby A, Rowitch DH, Bulmer JN, Wright GJ, Stubbington MJT, Haniffa M, Moffett A, Teichmann SA (2018) Single-cell reconstruction of the early maternal-fetal interface in humans.
Nature. 2018 Nov;563(7731):347-353.Turco MY, Gardner L, Hughes J, Cindrova-Davies T, Gomez MJ, Farrell L, Hollinshead M, Marsh SGE, Brosens JJ, Critchley HO, Simons BD, Hemberger M, Koo BK, Moffett A, Burton GJ. (2017) Long-term, hormone-responsive organoid cultures of human endometrium in a chemically defined medium.
Nature Cell Biology 2017 May;19(5):568-577.Lee CQ, Gardner L, Turco M, Zhao N, Murray MJ, Coleman N, Rossant J, Hemberger M, Moffett A. (2016) What Is Trophoblast? A Combination of Criteria Define Human First-Trimester Trophoblast.
Stem Cell Reports. 2016 Feb 9;6(2):257-72.Full list of publications
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Group leader
In current position since 2021
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PhD students
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Konstantina Nikolakopoulou hails from Volos, on the east coast of Greece. She got a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from the University of Thessaly, Greece, and a Master’s in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease from Radboud University, Netherlands. She joined the Turco lab (previously based in Cambridge, UK) as a Master's student, and then stayed on to work as a research assistant until she started her PhD a year after. She recently joined the FMI to continue her PhD with the Turco group. Konstantina was awarded a scholarship from Radboud UMC (Netherlands) for her Master’s and the Bosossakis Foundation (Greece) for both her Master’s and PhD. In addition she received a studentship for the first year of her PhD in the UK from the Centre for Trophoblast Research.
Current reseachKonstantina is using organoid cultures of the human endometrium trying to understand how this complex tissue regenerates after menstruation. She is investigating the identity and location of the progenitor/stem cells in the endometrium using RNA sequencing, CRISPR/Cas technologies and other molecular techniques.
Education• PhD in Reproductive Biology, FMI, Switzerland (2021-present)
• PhD in Reproductive Biology, University of Cambridge, UK (2020-2021)
• MSc in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, Radboud University, The Netherlands (2017-2019)
• BSc in Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly, Greece (2012-2016)
In current position since 2023
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Postdoctoral fellows
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In current position since 2024
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In current position since 2021
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Technical/Research associates
In current position since 2023
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Undergraduates
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