Quantitative Identification of Implantation Receptivity by Single Cell Transcriptome Analysis

This project aims to study the endometrial transcriptome at the single cell level in both endometrial native tissue (biopsies) and endometrial fluid. Basically, the goals are: 1) To use the resolution provided by single-cell RNA-seq to deconvolute real time dynamics in endometrium transcriptome throughout the menstrual cycle from artifacts produced by known population heterogeneity, and 2) To use endometrium fluid to replace endometrium biopsies as signal source to develop a new diagnostic platform to determine the endometrium receptive state which is high resolution and minimally invasive. This study will provide an unprecedented high-resolution characterization of the endometrium cellular hierarchy via whole transcriptome analysis throughout the menstrual stages. These results will lead to a robust definition of stage-defining gene expression signatures and resolve the long-standing inconsistencies originating from bulk tissue studies. The dataset will be further explored via informatics tools to provide biological insights into the dynamics of endometrium and initiate new anchor points for functional studies.