Research interests
The gut microbiota plays a vital role at the interface of host-environment interactions, yet their impact on programming early life epigenomic adaptations (i.e. hypothalamic and germline) is largely unexplored. Recently, the impact of gut microbiota on male germline and the subsequent intergenerational effect in their offspring was shown, which revealed previously unknown intergenerational mechanisms that propagate through the gut-germline-placenta axis. Nevertheless, whether gut microbiome dysbiosis affects the reproductive system indirectly through gut-hypothalamic-gonadal axis or directly through gut-germline axis, or both, remains an open question. To answer this question, this project aims to decipher how maternal gut microbiome influence epigenomic programming of the offspring in the developing hypothalamus and ovary (oogenesis).
