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.

Study elucidates the role of two isoforms of KRAS oncogenes

KRAS was one of the first oncogenes to be identified, a few decades ago. It is among the most common drivers of cancer and its mutations can be detected in around 25 per cent of human tumors.

19 Jul 2021

UB scientists publish a detailed guide for producing mature human cells in a mouse embryo

A year after University at Buffalo scientists demonstrated that it was possible to produce millions of mature human cells in a mouse embryo, they have published a detailed description of the method so that other laboratories can do it, too.

2 Jul 2021

Study finds higher risk of pre-eclampsia, hypertension in pregnancies derived from frozen embryos

A large cohort study drawn from the national IVF registry of France, which included almost 70,000 pregnancies delivered after 22 weeks gestation between 2013 and 2018, has found a higher risk of pre-eclampsia and hypertension in pregnancies derived from frozen-thawed embryos.

30 Jun 2021

Scientists mimic the natural development of mammal using stem cells

The tiny mouse embryo has a heart that beats. Its muscles, blood vessels, gut and nervous system are beginning to develop. But this embryo is unusual: It was made in a lab, out of mouse embryonic stem cells, and represents the most sophisticated in vitro (in a dish) model of a mammal ever so created.

29 Jun 2021

New study revises current textbook knowledge about gastrulation

Scientists from Helmholtz Zentrum München revise the current textbook knowledge about gastrulation, the formation of the basic body plan during embryonic development. Their study in mice has implications for cell replacement strategies and cancer research.

24 Jun 2021

New human organoid mimics the earliest developmental steps of the nervous system in embryos

The progression from a round ball of cells to an embryo with a head and a tail is one of the most critical steps in an organism's development. But just how cells first start organizing themselves with directionality along this head-to-tail axis is hard to study because it happens in the earliest days of embryonic development, in the confines of a mammal's uterus.

22 Jun 2021

New light-sheet fluorescence microscope provides high spatial resolution, lowers phototoxicity

A research group led by Takashi Saito, of the Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, developed a 2-photon excitation light-sheet fluorescence microscope which (1) lowers phototoxicity, (2) extends the field of view, and (3) heightens spatial resolution.

29 May 2021

Oxytocin-vasopressin circuit has distinct dynamics throughout embryonic development

The work, carried out by Pilar Madrigal and Sandra Jurado, from the UMH-CSIC Neurosciences Institute in Alicante, a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council and Miguel Hernández University, has been published in Communications Biology, a Nature group´s journal.

22 May 2021

Researchers discover possible origin of neuroblastoma in the adrenal glands

Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer, most commonly affecting children aged between 2 -3 and can be fatal. Since the tumor cells resemble certain cells in the adrenal glands, a joint research group from MedUni Vienna's Center for Brain Research and the Swedish Karolinska Institute investigated the cellular origin of these cells and sympathetic neurons during the embryonic development of human adrenal glands.

7 May 2021

Researchers describe the key facet of sexual determination in mammalian models

Early in human development, during the first trimester of gestation, a fetus may have XX or XY chromosomes that indicate its sex. Yet at this stage a mass of cells known as the bipotential gonad that ultimately develops into either ovaries or testes has yet to commit to its final destiny.

7 May 2021

First-of-its-kind method cryopreserves fruit fly embryos in liquid nitrogen

Cryopreservation, or the long-term storage of biomaterials at ultralow temperatures, has been used across cell types and species.

28 Apr 2021

Researchers discover elusive cell type in fish sensory organs

One of the evolutionary disadvantages for mammals, relative to other vertebrates like fish and chickens, is the inability to regenerate sensory hair cells.

26 Apr 2021

Recreating early embryos using stem cells

In their effort to understand the very earliest stages of life and how they can go wrong, scientists are confronted with ethical issues surrounding the use of human embryos.

23 Apr 2021

Gene-regulatory mechanisms at an early embryonic stage govern the flowering behavior of Arabidopsis

Researchers at GMI - Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences - and the John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom, determine that gene-regulatory mechanisms at an early embryonic stage govern the flowering behavior of Arabidopsis later in development. The paper is published in the journal PNAS.

22 Apr 2021

HP1a is a key epigenetic regulator that maintains chromosome integrity

The information of the human genome is encoded by approximately 3 billion DNA base pairs and packaged into 23 pairs of chromosomes.

16 Apr 2021

Researchers identify long-sought enzyme that prevents cancer

Researchers have found a long-sought enzyme that prevents cancer by enabling the breakdown of proteins that drive cell growth, and that causes cancer when disabled.

14 Apr 2021

USC Stem Cell scientist receives $2.56 million NIH grant to explore 'synthetic' embryonic development

Whether in an earthworm or a human being, developmental processes are driven by complex networks of genetically-encoded signals that enable cells to take cues from each other and their environment.

8 Apr 2021

Scientists describe the mechanisms that regulate embryonic stem cells

Scientists at the Proteomics Core Unit of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), headed by Javier Muñoz, have described the mechanisms, unknown to date, involved in maintaining embryonic stem cells in the best possible state for their use in regenerative medicine.

26 Mar 2021

YAP inhibitors could facilitate targeted treatment of basal-like breast cancer

Targeted treatment of basal-like breast cancer could be facilitated by YAP inhibitors in the future. As reported by an MDC team headed by Walter Birchmeier in the scientific journal Cancer Research, this type of cancer requires the support of the YAP protein to stimulate the growth of cancer stem cells.

22 Mar 2021

First model of early human embryo generated from skin cells

In a discovery that will revolutionise research into the causes of early miscarriage, infertility and the study of early human development - an international team of scientists led by Monash University in Melbourne, Australia has generated a model of a human embryo from skin cells.

22 Mar 2021