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.

Cancer researchers find evolutionary change that occurred in a key developmental signalling pathway

Cancer researchers at the University of Helsinki, in trying to find a novel tumor suppressor gene, instead found an important evolutionary change that occurred in a key developmental signalling pathway. The finding suggests a potential mechanism for evolution of complex intercellular signalling pathways.

9 Feb 2006

Researchers find new mechanism potentially explaining evolution of signalling pathways

7 Feb 2006

Histidine may be key to new therapies for cardiovascular disease

It's just one little amino acid, but it makes all the difference in protecting the heart from the harmful effects of heart attack and cardiac failure. Researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School suggest this amino acid, called histidine, could be the key to a new therapy for cardiovascular disease

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

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

Dog gene map may help explain human diseases

U.S. scientists say a detailed analysis of the dog genome answers such questions as how dogs of a different breed still belong to the same species, and may also explain some aspects of human health and biology.

11 Dec 2005

Transport mechanisms for serotonin

Researchers at The Forsyth Institute have discovered that the transport mechanisms for serotonin - the chemical substance involved in transmitting signals between neurons, and which has a role in anxiety and mood disorders - play a key role in determining where organs are positioned in the body during embryonic development.

7 Dec 2005

Researchers link microRNA - miR 196 - to limb development

A tiny strand of molecules plays a role in how our arms and legs develop and grow - a finding that sheds light on perplexing bits of material once dismissed as genetic "junk," say scientists at the University of Florida and Harvard University.

5 Dec 2005

Exploiting biology's own chemical toolbox...

Exploiting biology's own chemical toolbox, researchers have developed a new technique that will allow them to modify specific sequences within a DNA molecule. The approach will not only help reveal the impact of biochemical alterations to DNA, but could have far-reaching implications for DNA-based medical diagnosis and nanobiotechnology.

28 Nov 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

How cells use very slow biological flows to signal and organize

An EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) team led by professor Melody Swartz has demonstrated for the first time that the presence of very slow biological flows affects the extracellular environment in ways that are critical for tissue formation and cell migration.

25 Oct 2005

High blood glucose levels early in pregnancy deprive the embryo of oxygen

The babies of women with diabetes are two to five times more likely to develop birth defects than offspring of women without the disease.

4 Oct 2005

Israeli scientists successfully transplant ovaries in sheep and trigger early embryonic development

Israeli scientists report in Human Reproduction that they have successfully transplanted whole frozen and thawed ovaries in sheep, retrieved oocytes from these ovaries and triggered them in the laboratory into early embryonic development.

26 Sep 2005

New research adds to the emerging range of functions that miRNAs perform in an organism

In an effort to understand the biological function of the microRNA mir1, Drs. Nicholas Sokol and Victor Ambros (Darmouth Medical School) have studied the expression profile, transcriptional regulation and loss-of-function phenotype of Drosophila mir-1 (Dmir-1).

20 Sep 2005

Snail, a molecule normally important in embryonic development, can promote breast cancer recurrence

Using a recently developed mouse model of breast cancer, a team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown that Snail, a molecule normally important in embryonic development, can promote breast cancer recurrence.

20 Sep 2005

HOXA1 is a gene that's been looking for a disorder for a long time

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston, who specialize in studying the genetics of rare eye-movement disorders, have found a rare genetic syndrome whose implications go far beyond the eye, raising intriguing questions about human cardiovascular and brain development.

12 Sep 2005

Nitric oxide could one day help women in their 30s and 40s remain fertile longer

Researchers have found that an important chemical compound, nitric oxide, appears to slow or reverse the aging of eggs in mouse ovaries. The finding suggests nitric oxide could one day help women in their 30s and 40s remain fertile longer and increase their chances of having healthy babies, the scientists say.

7 Sep 2005

Researchers discover one of the reasons why melanoma is so ruthless

About 60,000 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma this year, says the American Cancer Society, and 10,000 of those cases will be fatal. If not caught in the early stages, melanoma can be a particularly virulent form of cancer, spreading through the body with an efficiency that few tumors possess.

5 Sep 2005

New technique for creating human embryonic stem cells

Researchers have developed a new technique for creating human embryonic stem cells by fusing adult somatic cells with embryonic stem cells. The fusion causes the adult cells to undergo genetic reprogramming, which results in cells that have the developmental characteristics of human embryonic stem cells.

22 Aug 2005

Scientists step closer to understanding the genetic pathway involved in the development of hearing

New research findings, published online in the journal Nature Genetics, detail how sensory hair cells in the ear - the cells largely responsible for hearing - develop unique shapes that enable the perception of sound.