Embryo News and Research

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Preimplantation cell number may affect birthweight

Dr Lieberman et al. at the Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Biology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA have measured the quality of human embryos by counting and assessing the properties of their individual cells.

2 Feb 2006

Counting cells that ensure gene balance

Two are one too many - this is the motto used by cells of a female organism: These contain two X chromosomes, one of which always becomes inactivated.

2 Feb 2006

Oocyte cryopreservation - allows women to freeze their eggs

Researchers at the Yale Fertility Center are now offering a cutting edge reproductive procedure called oocyte cryopreservation that allows women to freeze their eggs and use them at a later time to conceive a child.

27 Jan 2006

New research has implications for treating muscular dystrophy

In a surprising discovery with implications for treating muscular dystrophy, researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine and other institutions have identified a major source of origin for two groups of adult cells that regulate muscle repair.

27 Jan 2006

First-of-its-kind study in heart attack patients seeks to prevent heart failure with stem cells

University of Rochester Medical Center researchers have announced the launch of a study that will examine whether transplanted stem cells can be safely used to treat damaged heart muscle in patients just after their first heart attack.

23 Jan 2006

Cloned stem cells are perfectly normal

Scientists generally agree that all cloned animals are biologically flawed. But they don't agree about what that means for stem cells derived from cloned embryos, the basis for therapeutic cloning.

18 Jan 2006

Missing protein C/EBPb may be cause of infertility

The absence of a key protein may lead to infertility. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report that experiments involving mice -- to be detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences -- indicate that the transcription factor protein C/EBPb must be present in the uterus for pregnancy to occur.

18 Jan 2006

Tissue-specific RNAi reveals that WT1 expression in nurse cells controls germ cell survival and spermatogenesis

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center say they have jumped a significant hurdle in the use of RNA interference (RNAi), believed by many to be the ultimate tool to both decode the function of individual genes in the human genome and to treat disease.

16 Jan 2006

Study finds two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle.

30 Dec 2005

Study finds two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle.

30 Dec 2005

Gene discovery may prevent craniofacial birth defects

Craniofacial researchers have developed an animal model that explains how skull malformations occur and how they might be prevented.

22 Dec 2005

Remarkable developmental pathway in frog embryos discovered

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have discovered an important regulatory pathway that enables frog embryos to develop normally even after being split in half -- as happens in the development of identical twins.

15 Dec 2005

SPARC promotes heart muscle formation from stem cells

The protein SPARC plays a key role in the development of heart muscle in the embryo. An Austrian Science Fund FWF project has discovered this previously unknown role of SPARC.

12 Dec 2005

South Korean cloning pioneer responds to accusations

South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk has defended himself in the media following allegations over ethics violations that have seen his groundbreaking work plunged into controversy.

24 Nov 2005

Desperate patients cause stem cell web site to crash

The web site of South Korea's new stem cell bank has crashed even before it began taking applications to take part in research.

2 Nov 2005

Analytical method to trace the lineage trees of cells

Some fundamental outstanding questions in science - "Where do stem cells originate?" "How does cancer develop?" "When do cell types split off from each other in the embryo?" - might be answered if scientists had a way to map the history of the body's cells going back to the fertilized egg.

30 Oct 2005

Scientists have identified the gene which explains why eggs fail to produce a zygote

Scientists have identified the gene responsible for controlling a first key step in the creation of new life, according to new research published in the journal Nature.

27 Oct 2005

Scientists find key step in a signaling pathway that helps orchestrate embryonic development

The study, reported in Nature (Oct. 13, 2005), focuses on the Hedgehog family of signaling molecules, which play a central role in directing development of the early embryo's growth and spatial plan, as well as its later organ and limb development. Defects in Hedgehog signaling are a significant cause of some birth defects and cancers.

25 Oct 2005

Blocking a signaling lipid can keep nerves from developing and may even cause neurons to die

Blocking a signaling lipid can keep nerves from developing the arm-like extensions they need to wire the body and may even cause neurons to die, researchers have found.

24 Oct 2005

Screening test would give hope to childless couples

According to new research thousands of childless British couples could greatly improve their chances of having a baby if a test that weeds out faulty embryos were carried out.

20 Oct 2005