Embryonic Development News and Research

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Embryonic development or embryogenesis is the process by which the embryo is formed and develops. It starts with the fertilization of the ovum, egg, which, after fertilization, is then called a zygote. The zygote undergoes rapid mitotic divisions, the formation of two exact genetic replicates of the original cell, with no significant growth (a process known as cleavage) and cellular differentiation, leading to development of an embryo.

HP1a is a key epigenetic regulator that maintains chromosome integrity

The information of the human genome is encoded by approximately 3 billion DNA base pairs and packaged into 23 pairs of chromosomes.

16 Apr 2021

Researchers identify long-sought enzyme that prevents cancer

Researchers have found a long-sought enzyme that prevents cancer by enabling the breakdown of proteins that drive cell growth, and that causes cancer when disabled.

14 Apr 2021

USC Stem Cell scientist receives $2.56 million NIH grant to explore 'synthetic' embryonic development

Whether in an earthworm or a human being, developmental processes are driven by complex networks of genetically-encoded signals that enable cells to take cues from each other and their environment.

8 Apr 2021

Scientists describe the mechanisms that regulate embryonic stem cells

Scientists at the Proteomics Core Unit of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), headed by Javier Muñoz, have described the mechanisms, unknown to date, involved in maintaining embryonic stem cells in the best possible state for their use in regenerative medicine.

26 Mar 2021

YAP inhibitors could facilitate targeted treatment of basal-like breast cancer

Targeted treatment of basal-like breast cancer could be facilitated by YAP inhibitors in the future. As reported by an MDC team headed by Walter Birchmeier in the scientific journal Cancer Research, this type of cancer requires the support of the YAP protein to stimulate the growth of cancer stem cells.

22 Mar 2021

First model of early human embryo generated from skin cells

In a discovery that will revolutionise research into the causes of early miscarriage, infertility and the study of early human development - an international team of scientists led by Monash University in Melbourne, Australia has generated a model of a human embryo from skin cells.

22 Mar 2021

New method for growing embryos outside the womb

To observe how a tiny ball of identical cells on its way to becoming a mammalian embryo first attaches to an awaiting uterine wall and then develops into nervous system, heart, stomach and limbs: This has been a highly-sought grail in the field of embryonic development for nearly 100 years.

17 Mar 2021

Princeton researchers discover previously unknown organelle that plays role in bone metastasis

Some of Princeton's leading cancer researchers were startled to discover that what they thought was a straightforward investigation into how cancer spreads through the body -- metastasis -- turned up evidence of liquid-liquid phase separations: the new field of biology research that investigates how liquid blobs of living materials merge into each other, similar to the movements seen in a lava lamp or in liquid mercury.

9 Mar 2021

Study reveals physical phenomena relied by oocytes to grow big

Egg cells are by far the largest cells produced by most organisms. In humans, they are several times larger than a typical body cell and about 10,000 times larger than sperm cells.

8 Mar 2021

Loss of functions in the PLD1 gene causes congenital heart disease

A team of researchers co-led by Michael Frohman, MD, PhD, of Stony Brook University, has identified an important cause of congenital heart disease.

2 Mar 2021

A region within GLI1 gene could potentially be targeted as cancer treatment

Scientists from the Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago found that a region within the DNA of the cancer-promoting GLI1 gene is directly responsible for regulating this gene's expression.

1 Mar 2021

New hydrogel-based materials show promise for tissue engineering

New hydrogel-based materials that can change shape in response to psychological stimuli, such as water, could be the next generation of materials used to bioengineer tissues and organs, according to a team of researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago.

25 Feb 2021

Biodegradable microcapsules loaded with nerve growth factor can guide neuronal development

Researchers from Skoltech and their colleagues have demonstrated that nanoengineered biodegradable microcapsules can guide the development of hippocampal neurons in an in vitro experiment.

16 Feb 2021

Compound isolated from Ophiura sarsii can be used as an affordable drug for photodynamic therapy

An unusual biologically active porphyrin compound was isolated from seabed dweller Ophiura sarsii. The substance might be used as an affordable light-sensitive drug for innovative photodynamic therapy and for targeted treatment of triple-negative breast cancer and some other cancers.

8 Feb 2021

Synthetic biology can help create complex embryo

Richard Feynman, one of the most respected physicists of the twentieth century, said "What I cannot create, I do not understand". Not surprisingly, many physicists and mathematicians have observed fundamental biological processes with the aim of precisely identifying the minimum ingredients that could generate them. One such example are the patterns of nature observed by Alan Turing.

2 Feb 2021

Researchers develop a simple and efficient way to generate hemogenic endothelial cells

Pioneering research into how our bodies manufacture the cells that make blood has moved us closer to regrowing tissues and organs. The findings also may let doctors grow the cells for transplantation into people to battle cancer, blood disorders and autoimmune diseases.

28 Jan 2021

UC research team uses zebrafish to study a gene mutation that causes congenital scoliosis

Popular in aquariums all over the world, the zebrafish is native to South Asia. But here in a Cincinnati Children's laboratory, the freshwater variant plays a vital role in scientific discovery.

22 Jan 2021

Researchers discover rare genetic disorder that affects the brain, heart and facial features

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered a new genetic disorder characterized by developmental delays and malformations of the brain, heart and facial features.

20 Jan 2021

Study provides a mathematical description of how tumor metastasis starts

A scientific study carried out by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) has produced a mathematical description of the way in which a tumor invades the epithelial cells and automatically quantifies the progression of the tumor and the remaining cell islands after its progression.

18 Jan 2021

Mosaic mutations during embryonic development can cause autism spectrum disorder

Two studies in today's Nature Neuroscience, led by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and Harvard Medical School (HMS), implicate mosaic mutations arising during embryonic development as a cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The findings open new areas for exploring the genetics of ASD and could eventually inform diagnostic testing.

11 Jan 2021