Lab grown brain organoids mirror newborn brain development
Brain organoids, grown in the lab from stem cells, have been shown to develop in-line with the human brain...
News
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
Stem cell treatment leads to improvement in spinal cord injuries
Stem cell therapy significantly improved spinal cord injuries in a small clinical trial...
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.
Newlywed's satisfaction may be linked to a genetic variant
Psychologists have found a genetic variant associated with relationship satisfaction in the first years of marriage...
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
Organoids of human lung and brain respond differently to SARS-CoV-2
The body's response to infection by SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) varies across different cell types, according to a new study...
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.
Longevity gene protects brain stem cells from stress
A gene linked to longevity has been shown to protect brain stem cells from oxidative stress...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Gene that guides egg points to cause of ectopic pregnancy
The risk of ectopic pregnancy may be influenced by regulation of a specific gene, according to new research...
Reviews
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.
Animation Review: The Human Pangenome
When the Human Genome Project was completed in 2000, Bill Clinton, then president of the United States, called it 'the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind'...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Podcast Review: Sperm Series — I download an app
Dating hasn't worked out for Andrea Silenzi, and through running 'The Longest Shortest Time' podcast, she has decided that she is ready to become a single parent. In the first episode of a three-part miniseries, Silenzi explores using an app called 'Just a Baby' to find a sperm donor...
Comment
Ethics of genetically reconstituting oocytes
by Professor John Loike
In the 16 December issue of Nature, researchers reported that the addition of eight transcription factors to pluripotent stem cells converted them into a primary oocyte-like cell...
The Health of IVF Babies: What Do We Know? What Do We Need to Find Out?
by Annabel Slater
In 1978, in the run-up to the birth of Louise Brown, the first IVF baby, the media speculated greatly over whether she would be normal. 'Had there been anything at all wrong with me,' Brown has reflected, 'I think it would have been the end of IVF'...