Grave to Cradle
: Human Lineage Tracing Tools for Human Embryogenesis Using Dead Bodies
Abstract
Scientists have been curious about the process of human creation for a long time. Many questions about how a human life is created have been resolved with knowledge obtained through in vitro fertilization experiments that show how cells divide after fertilization. However, we still do not know how human life is created at the cellular level.
Recently, cadavers have become a valuable resource from which to obtain 'normal' cells and tissues, with human research using postmortem bodies attracting growing scientific attention. As the human genome can be analyzed at the level of nucleotides through whole-genome sequencing, individual cells in a postmortem body can be traced back to determine the developmental processes that have transpired from fertilization. These retrospective lineage tracing studies have answered several unsolved questions on how human life is created.
This seminar covers the methodologies utilized in lineage tracing research, exploring both the historical context and the conceptual basis for reconstructing the division history of cells in a retrospective manner by using postzygotic somatic variants in postmortem tissue. It also discusses the potential of postmortem research for issues that may need to be solved in the future.
