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.

Stem cells and their role in malignant brain tumours

Speaking at the UK National Stem Cell Network Annual Science Meeting in Edinburgh, Professor Silvia Marino shows how the mechanisms normally involved in balancing different functions of stem cells may also contribute to cancer.

13 Apr 2008

Computational approaches to the role of epigenetic marks in transcription regulation

A closer alliance between computational and experimental researchers is needed to make progress towards one of biology's most challenging goals, understanding how epigenetic marks contribute to regulation of gene expression.

11 Apr 2008

Molecule delivery method improves stem cell differentiation

Embryonic stem cell therapies have been proposed for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease.

10 Apr 2008

Method to deliver molecules within embryonic stem cells improves differentiation

Embryonic stem cell therapies have been proposed for regenerative medicine and tissue replacement after injury or disease.

10 Apr 2008

Research using human embryonic stem cells reveals earliest step in human development

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have uncovered the molecular underpinnings of one of the earliest steps in human development using human embryonic stem cells.

10 Apr 2008

Key factor in brain development revealed, offers insight into lissencephaly

In the earliest days of brain development, the brain's first cells - neuroepithelial stem cells - divide continuously, producing a population of cells that eventually evolves into the various cells of the fully formed brain.

28 Mar 2008

Targeting aggressive breast cancers by putting them to sleep

It is well established that Id1, a gene normally produced only in embryonic development, is reactivated in many 'solid' cancers, or carcinomas.

26 Mar 2008

Deadly genetic disease prevented before birth in zebrafish with genetic patch

By injecting a customized "genetic patch" into early stage fish embryos, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis were able to correct a genetic mutation so the embryos developed normally.

24 Mar 2008

Discovery could lead to much-needed kidney failure treatment

The unwanted activation of an important cell-signaling pathway may play a role in two kidney problems that are major causes of end-stage renal disease, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found.

13 Mar 2008

Inverted DNA turns quiet developmental gene into a potent driver of t-cell lymphoma

A gene crucial for embryonic development can quickly become a potent cancer promoter in adult mice after a genetic misalignment, according to researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center, causing white blood cells to become cancerous spontaneously.

28 Feb 2008

Genetic defect causes immune deficiency and balance disorder

A genetic defect that causes a severe immune deficiency in humans may also produce balance disorders, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Iowa, The Jackson Laboratory and East Carolina University.

21 Feb 2008

Advanced Cell Technology demonstrates highly efficient process for the generation of high-purity hepatocytes

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. has reported for the first time a robust and highly efficient process for the generation of high-purity hepatocytes (liver cells).

21 Feb 2008

Gene therapy protocol at UCSD activates immune system in patients with leukemia

A research team at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) reports that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were treated with a gene therapy protocol began making antibodies that reacted against their own leukemia cells.

12 Feb 2008

Why your fertility cells must have 'radio silence'

Researchers in Kobe, Japan, and Montreal, Canada, have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism which causes embryonic germ cells which later develop into sperm or ova to go through a period of "transcriptional silence," during which information from the cell's DNA cannot be copied.

31 Jan 2008

Elusive pancreatic stem cells found in adult mice

Just as many scientists had given up the search, researchers have discovered that the pancreas does indeed harbor stem cells with the capacity to generate new insulin-producing beta cells.

25 Jan 2008

Study examines genetic defects linked to body abnormalities in patients with childhood cancer

Children with cancer have a higher prevalence of body abnormalities, such as asymmetric lower limbs and curvature of the spine, suggesting that the genetic defect responsible for the abnormality may play a role in the development of cancer, according to a study in the January 2 issue of JAMA.

2 Jan 2008