The main team project focuses on the chicken ESC and aims to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying self-renewal in the pluripotent state and differentiation into germ cells. Specifically, we aim i) to identify the core pluripotency network in chicken ESCs, ii) to identify the molecular mechanisms that govern differentiation into germ cells, iii) to explore the epigenetic changes that take place in vitro and in vivo during the early development of the chicken embryo, and iv) to reprogram avian somatic cells into pluripotent induced stem cells and germinal stem cells.