Stem cells discovered that resemble early human embryo cells
Human cells behaving like those at a crucial embryological milestone have been identified, enabling insights into early development...
BioNews
Zygote
The single cell formed immediately after fertilisation, once the genetic information of the egg and sperm have fused.
39 articles
Event Review: Modifying Humans – Is global governance of genome editing possible?
The Centre for Bioethics and Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, presented a fascinating talk on the opportunities for great medical advancements, and grave harm, presented to researchers by CRISPR/Cas9 and other apporaches to genome editing...
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Epigenetics and bioethics of human embryonic development: a birds' eye perspective
It is becoming clear that our gene functions are influenced by a variety of 'epigenetic' factors throughout our lives and even before we are conceived...
The question of embryohood
Students of bioethics sometimes imagine that the philosophical, moral and legal status of the human embryo is reducible to the single question: 'Is the human embryo a person?'...
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
The entelechy test: embryos and simbryos
Over two weeks in March, four teams reported the self-assembly from stem cells of structures resembling human embryos...
Genomes of identical twins start to diverge in the womb
Identical twins may not in fact be genetically identical at birth, according to a new study by researchers in Iceland...
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
Protein from a mother's egg stays in the developing embryo
A maternal protein in the embryo can cause long-lasting impacts on development, Australian researchers have found...
Why single embryo transfers in IVF sometimes result in twins
The reasons why IVF treatment sometimes results in twin or triplet births — even though only one embryo is used — have been found by the largest study to date on single embryo transfer and multiple pregnancy...
New structure found in sperm may help understand infertility
Cutting-edge microscopy has unveiled a structure inside sperm that may play a key role in infertility and birth defects...
First genome editing of human embryos by UK scientists
UK scientists have successfully edited the genome of human embryos to study the role of a gene key to the earliest stages of development...