Two to three weeks after conception, an embryo faces a critical point in its development. In the stage known as gastrulation, the transformation of embryonic cells into specialized cells begins. This ...

In mammals, signalling between the placenta and the embryo is essential for successful development. Here, a quantitative, time-resolved model describes the coordinated formation of the mouse embryo ...

Magdalena (Magda) Zernicka-Goetz, today a developmental and stem cell biologist at the University of Cambridge and California Institute of Technology, recalled being an artistic child who enjoyed ...

For several years, researchers studied human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to understand the unique features of these pluripotent cells, but on their own, they poorly resembled the complex structures ...

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have developed a new stem cell model of the mature human amniotic sac, which replicates development of the tissues supporting the embryo from two to four ...

What do the earliest stages of a pregnancy look like? Embryonic development has been extensively studied, but most of our knowledge of the earliest stages of a growing baby come from stationary ...

The earliest days after fertilization, once a sperm cell meets an egg, are shrouded in scientific mystery. The process of how a humble single cell becomes an organism fascinates scientists across ...

Scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), used CRISPR to engineer cellular models of embryos that mimic what happens in the first few days after reproductive cells meet. These ...

Researchers have discovered a key transition in early embryonic development is facilitated by decreasing levels of a viral protein inserted into the DNA of our early animal ancestors. Researchers at ...

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have developed a new stem cell model of the mature human amniotic sac, which replicates development of the tissues supporting the embryo from two to four ...