Embryo News and Research

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Scientists reveal how lymphatic system develops in embryo

For over one hundred years, scientists have debated the question of the origins of the lymphatic system - a parallel system to the blood vessels that serves as a conduit for everything from immune cells to fat molecules to cancer cells. This issue has now been resolved by Dr. Karina Yaniv of Weizmann Institute's Biological Regulation Department. In a study reported online today in Nature, she and her team revealed how the lymphatic system develops in the embryo and for the first time managed to grow lymphatic cells in the lab.

21 May 2015

Nerve cells guide each other during embryonic development

When nerve cells form in an embryo they do not start off in the right place but have to be guided to their final position by navigating a kind of molecular and cellular "map" in order to function properly. In a recent research study published in Nature Communications neurobiologist Sara Wilson, Umeå University, found that during embryonic development different parts of the nerve cell are important for guiding other nerve cells into their physical positions.

20 May 2015

New microscopy technique helps researchers to selectively visualize individual cells in living organism

Researchers at ETH Zurich's Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel have developed a new microscopy technique that enables for the first time to selectively visualize individual cells within the complex, three-dimensional tissue of a living organism.

20 May 2015

Salk discovery may offer new avenues for generating novel therapies

Scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a novel type of pluripotent stem cell--cells capable of developing into any type of tissue--whose identity is tied to their location in a developing embryo. This contrasts with stem cells traditionally used in scientific study, which are characterized by their time-related stage of development.

7 May 2015

Scientists reveal mechanism by which embryos receive nutrition in early stages of pregnancy

The mechanism by which embryos receive nutrition during the first 11 weeks of pregnancy has been revealed by University of Manchester scientists.

30 Apr 2015

Study opens door for new therapeutic approaches to treating patients with melanoma

Weill Cornell Medical College researchers have shown for the first time that a gene previously implicated in blood vessel formation during embryonic development and tumor growth also induces immune suppression during tumor development.

30 Apr 2015

Researchers develop new IVF technique to improve fertility treatment

For couples struggling to conceive the old-fashioned way, in vitro fertilization (IVF) provides an alternate route to starting a family. When eggs are mixed with sperm in test tubes, the fertilized eggs to grow into embryos that can be implanted inside the uterus of a woman who will carry them to term.

29 Apr 2015

Physical forces can affect development of limbs in embryos

University of Toronto engineers and a pediatric surgeon have joined forces to discover that physical forces like pressure and tension affect the development of limbs in embryos--research that could someday be used to help prevent birth defects.

23 Apr 2015

Smoking and genetics can increase women's likelihood of giving birth to twins

African American mothers who smoke and have a genetic profile that includes a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the TP53 gene have an increased likelihood of having twins, concluded a team of researchers from the University of South Florida and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

21 Apr 2015

New study describes way to regenerate lung tissue after injury

A new collaborative study describes a way that lung tissue can regenerate after injury. The team found that lung tissue has more dexterity in repairing tissue than once thought.

13 Apr 2015

Researchers analyze false-positive results from new prenatal genetic screens

Prenatal blood screening for extra or missing chromosomes in the fetus might give false-positive results if the mother's genome contains more than the usual number of certain DNA segments.

6 Apr 2015

Study pinpoints how body clock genes could lead to recurrent miscarriages

Researchers at the University of Warwick and UHCW have discovered how body clock genes could affect women's ability to have children.

2 Apr 2015

Older mothers who exercise during pregnancy can reduce baby's risk of congenital heart defects

In people, a baby's risk of congenital heart defects is associated with the age of the mother. Risk goes up with increasing age. Newborn mice predisposed to heart defects because of genetic mutations show the same age association.

2 Apr 2015

New study opens door to preventative treatments for congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is not as well known as muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis, but like them it is a life-threatening birth defect, and is just as common. Occurring in one in 3,000 births, CDH causes the guts and liver to protrude through a defective diaphragm and into the chest cavity, where they interfere with the lungs.

30 Mar 2015

New approach to improve IVF treatment

Women who have difficulty getting pregnant often turn to in-vitro fertilization (IVF), but it doesn't always work. Now scientists are taking a new approach to improve the technique by studying the proteins that could help ready a uterus for an embryo to implant in its wall.

19 Mar 2015

Scientists use x-ray vision to probe early stages of DNA 'photocopying'

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have created a 3-D model of a complex protein machine, ORC, which helps prepare DNA to be duplicated.

16 Mar 2015

MDC scientists identify new molecular signaling pathway that regulates placental development

During pregnancy, the mother supplies the fetus with nutrients and oxygen via the placenta. If placental development is impaired, this may lead to growth disorders of the embryo or to life-threatening diseases of the mother such as preeclampsia, a serious condition involving high blood pressure and increased urinary protein excretion.

11 Mar 2015

CHOPS syndrome sheds light on key biological processes during human development

Analyzing a puzzling multisystem disorder in three children, genetic experts have identified a new syndrome, shedding light on key biological processes during human development. The research also provides important information to help caregivers manage the disorder, and may offer clues to eventually treating it.

3 Mar 2015

Researchers identify previously unknown effect of vitamin A in embryonic development

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have identified a previously unknown effect of vitamin A in human embryonic development. Their findings show that vitamin A affects the formation of blood cells.

25 Feb 2015

New skin test may help detect abnormal proteins in patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases

Scientists have discovered a skin test that may shed new light on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, according to a study released today will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 67th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., April 18 to 25, 2015.