Susana is Full Professor Human Developmental Biology at the Dept Anatomy and Embryology, LUMC and appointed Guest Professor at the Dept. Reproductive Medicine, University Ghent, Belgium from 2013. She investigates in vivo human development and in parallel develops in vitro human differentiation assays from pluripotent stem cells. She has a strong knowledge of single-cell technologies, computational biology and genome editing. She is mainly focused on the urogenital system, in particular the germ cells, and how the (epi)genetic information is transmitted from generation to generation. She is engaged in the development of assays leading to the maturation of oocytes from ovarian material (artificial ovaries) and in vitro gametogenesis. She has generated both human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. Her research is relevant to determine novel strategies for fertility preservation and develop innovative technologies in human reproduction. Her group currently investigates the composition dynamics of the human fetal and adult ovary at the single-cell level and is developing strategies to mature oocytes in vitro in artificial follicles. Moreover, she investigates how the sex chromosomes (XX and XY) influence the differentiation potential of male and female pluripotent stem cells during in vitro gametogenesis.
Relevant publications
• Roelse CM, Overeem AW, Chang YW, Boubakri M, Chuva de Sousa Lopes SM (2024). Isolation and in vitro culture of germ cells and Sertoli cells from human fetal testis. Methods Mol Biol. 2024;2770:63-83
• Taelman J, Czukiewska SM, Moustakas I, Chang YW, Hillenius S, van der Helm T, van der Meeren LE, Mei H, Fan X, Chuva de Sousa Lopes SM (2024). Characterization of the human fetal gonad and reproductive tract by single-cell transcriptomics. Dev Cell 59:1-16
• Czukiewska SM, Fan X, Mulder AA, Van Der Helm T, Hillenius S, Van Der Meeren L, Matorras R, Eguizabal C, Lei L, Koning RI, Chuva De Sousa Lopes SM (2023). Cell-cell interactions during the formation of primordial follicles in humans. Life Sci Alliance 6(11):e202301926
• Overeem AW, Chang YW, Moustakas I, Roelse CM, Hillenius S, Van Der Helm T, Van Der Schrier VF, Gonçalves MAFV, Mei H, Freund C, Chuva de Sousa Lopes SM (2023). Efficient and scalable generation of primordial germ cells in 2D culture using basement membrane extract overlay. Cell Rep Methods 3(6):100488
• P Garreta E, Kamm RD, Chuva de Sousa Lopes SM, Lancaster MA, Weiss R, Trepat X, Hyun I, Montserrat N (2021). Rethinking organoid technology through bioengineering. Nat Materials 20:145-155
• Pereira Daoud AM, Popovic M, Dondorp WJ, Trani Bustos M, Bredenoord AL, Chuva de Sousa Lopes SM, van den Brink SC, Roelen BAJ, de Wert GMWR, Heindryckx B (2020). Modelling human embryogenesis: embryo-like structures spark ethical and policy debate. Hum Reprod Update 26:779
• Fan X, Bialecka M, Moustakas I, Lam E, Torrens-Juaneda V, Borggreven NV, Trouw L, Louwe LA, Pilgram GSK, Mei H, van der Westerlaken L, Chuva de Sousa Lopes SM (2019). Single-cell reconstruction of follicular remodeling in the human adult ovary. Nat Commun 10:3164
• Roost MS, Slieker RC, Bialecka M, van Iperen L, Gomes Fernandes MM, He N, Suchiman HED, Szuhai K, Carlotti F, de Koning EJP, Mummery CL, Heijmans BT, Chuva de Sousa Lopes SM (2017). DNA methylation and transcriptional trajectories during human development and reprogramming of isogenic pluripotent stem cells. Nat Commun 8:908
• Takasato M, Er PX, Chiu HS, Maier B, Baillie GJ, Ferguson C, Parton RG, Wolvetang EJ, Roost MS, Chuva de Sousa Lopes SM, Little MH (2015). Kidney organoids from human iPS cells contain multiple lineages and model human nephrogenesis. Nature 526:564-568