Prof. Dr. S. M. (Susana) Chuva de Sousa Lopes

I am a professor of Developmental Biology in the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at Leiden University Medical Center. Additionally, I serve as a guest professor at the University Hospital Ghent, Belgium. I obtained my Ph.D. in 2004 from Utrecht University (Hubrecht Institute). Following two postdoctoral periods at the Gurdon Institute (Cambridge University, UK) and one postdoc at the Hubrecht Institute, I relocated to LUMC. I am the past coordinator of the special interest group "Stem Cells" at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE). I have received a VENI grant (2006) and a VICI grant (2019) from NWO/ZonMW, as well as an ERC Consolidator Grant (2016) from the EC. Additionally, I coordinate the ZonMW PSIDER consortium HipGametes and serve as a Principal Investigator at the international Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine reNEW. I have also been honored twice with an Aspasia premium and twice with the Snoo - van 't Hoogerhuijs Foundation prize.

Over the past 5 years, I have studied human ovaries during development and maturity. To accomplish this, I have utilized single-cell transcriptomics, and the knowledge generated has been crucial in developing methods for in vitro cultivation of human ovarian material and for devising protocols for in vitro gametogenesis using human pluripotent stem cells (Nature Comm 10.1038/s41467-019-11036-9 and Dev Cell 10.1016/j.devcel.2024.01.006). Additionally, I aim to understand how differences in sex chromosomes lead to female or male gonadal differentiation. In pursuit of this, my research group has developed a differentiation protocol to efficiently generate primordial germ cells from human pluripotent stem cells (Cell Rep Methods 10.1016/j.crmeth.2023.100488). My work aligns with the theme for innovation: regenerative medicine of tissues and organs.