Embryology News and Research

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Embryology is the study of the development of an embryo. An embryo is defined as any organism in an early stage well before birth or hatching, or in plants, before germination occurs.

Three-parent children may be born in near future in an effort to combat mitochondrial diseases

In the next couple of years the scientific community may witness creation of children with genetic material from three parents. British scientists want to start testing a new IVF technique to try to eradicate incurable genetic diseases such as muscular dystrophy. The concept took a leap forward yesterday after the Government announced a public consultation on whether the law should be changed to allow the technique.

22 Jan 2012

Artificial testes being developed to help infertile men produce sperm

Californian researchers are trying to create an artificial testicle that will produce human sperm. Dr. Paul Turek, director of the Turek Clinic in San Francisco, which specializes in male infertility, said the goal is not to create a testicular implant for men, but a “sperm-making biological machine” that will help scientists learn more about just what causes male infertility. “We’re trying to recreate the process of sperm production in a three-dimensional system,” Turek said. “Simple laboratory conditions can’t get it done in humans. Our concept is to actually recreate the testicle itself.”

22 Jan 2012

SDB to honor Carnegie's BioEYES with Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize

Carnegie's educational outreach program, BioEYES, will be the recipient of the 2012 Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize from the Society for Developmental Biology.

19 Jan 2012

Implanting more embryos for IVF may do more harm than good: Study

Researchers have suggested that implanting multiple embryos for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) may do more harm than good. This finding appeared in the current online version of the journal Lancet. The study argues against common practice of implanting multiple embryos in order to maximize a woman’s chances of conception during in vitro fertilization.

15 Jan 2012

Twins born five years apart thanks to advanced reproductive technology

Floren Blake is a miracle baby for her parents. At just under two months of age she also has a “twin” five-year-old brother Reuben. Even the clinicians who delivered the baby girl in November last year were ecstatic said her 38-year-old mother, Jody Blake, as the family shared the excitement brought about by advances infertility treatment over the past 20 years.

5 Jan 2012

Twin births on the rise in the U.S.

Over the last three decades there has been a rise in the number of twins born in the U.S. Mostly this is the result of test-tube babies and women waiting to have children until their 30s, when the chances of twins increase. In 2009, 1 in every 30 babies born in the U.S. was a twin, an astounding increase over the 1 in 53 rate in 1980, according to a government report issued Wednesday.

5 Jan 2012

King's College London submits first clinical grade xeno-free hES cell lines to the UKSCB

Stem cell scientists at King's College London will announce they have submitted to the UK Stem Cell Bank (UKSCB) their first clinical grade human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines that are free from animal-derived products, known as 'xeno-free' stem cells.

7 Dec 2011

Stem cell markers can aid in determining origin of pediatric sarcomas

The authors of a report in the current issue of the journal Pediatric and Developmental Pathology sought to use stem cell markers as an aid in determining the cell of origin. The expression of stem cell-associated proteins shows differences that can help identify how the tumors evolve. Eighty-one tumors were analyzed, all diagnosed in patients under 18 years old.

10 Nov 2011

Assisted reproduction rates rise and multiple births decline: Australian report

Latest reports from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show that the number of Australian and New Zealand women giving birth to twins after becoming pregnant with the help of assisted reproductive technology has reduced and may continue its declining trend.

8 Nov 2011

Infertility treatment linked to borderline ovarian tumors

New research shows that women who undergo ovarian stimulation to produce extra eggs for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) are at increased risk for a type of growth known as “borderline ovarian tumors”.

30 Oct 2011

One embryo is all it takes for a successful IVF: Study

Doctors practicing IVF often transferred multiple embryos to a woman’s body at once, in the hope that at least one of them would lead to a successful pregnancy. That changes now as a new study from researchers at the University of Iowa in Iowa City found that women who had only one embryo transferred during IVF didn’t have lower chances of getting pregnant, but they did have a lower risk of giving birth to twins than women who had multiple embryos transferred.

25 Oct 2011

Embryonic stem cell therapy patents knocked back in Europe

The European Union's highest court ruled Tuesday that scientists cannot patent stem cell techniques that use human embryos for research, a decision some scientists said could threaten major medical advances if it prevents biotech companies from turning a profit.

20 Oct 2011

National award encourages bio-science student researchers

A key challenge for the bio-sciences sector is to keep its best research graduates in science and in Australia. The national student awards recognise and encourage promising research students and raise awareness of biosciences research translation and applications.

17 Oct 2011

British scientist wins NYSCF - Robertson Stem Cell Prize

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) announced today that a British stem cell scientist working to cure blindness will be the first recipient of The New York Stem Cell Foundation - Robertson Prize in Stem Cell Research, a $200,000 prize awarded annually for extraordinary achievement in translational stem cell research.

12 Oct 2011

ASHG to honor U of U geneticist with William Allan Award

As a teenager just moved to Iowa from war-ravaged Germany in 1951, John M. Opitz, M.D., wanted to study developmental biology, but his "very Prussian" mother insisted he go to medical school instead.

12 Oct 2011

Thriving stem cells created by cloning technique

In a breakthrough that has been debated and awaited for long, scientists have finally derived colonies of embryonic stem cells from human embryos created using cloning technology.

6 Oct 2011

Sperm donors may father over 150 children

Most sperm donors assume that they would father a few children. But with the news that some donors have fathered over 100 kids there have been calls for tighter regulation. It has been discovered that some sperm banks allow donors to father lots and lots of kids — one has over 150. And with these very large groups of half-siblings come risks: rare genetic conditions could be spread more widely through the gene pool, and children of the same donor could meet and, unbeknownst to them, commit incest.

6 Sep 2011

MYCN amplification can serve as a favorable prognostic indicator for neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma, a malignant tumor that primarily affects infants and young children, is a leading cause of death for children with cancer. When amplification of the MYCN oncogene is found in the tumor, it usually indicates an aggressive tumor with rapid progression of the disease and a poor outcome. Thus MYCN amplification has come to be used as a prognostic indicator.

12 Aug 2011

Blood test early in pregnancy to detect baby’s gender

While carrying the child, a mother's blood has cell-free fetal DNA floating around in it, and it's possible to use this to test for the baby's sex. In a meta-analysis that covered more, the test was found to be 95% efficient in guessing the sex of the fetus — and it works from as early as seven weeks. As the fetus and the placenta develop, the amount of DNA present in the mother increases, boosting the accuracy of the test, which hits its peak at 20 weeks.

12 Aug 2011

Stem cells could provide sperm for infertile males

Researchers have been successful in creating sperm-producing germ cells from stem cells in a lab and transferred them into infertile mice, which after the treatment were able to produce healthy offspring. This new development could help thousands of infertile men become fathers if the method proves similarly effective in humans.

5 Aug 2011