Week 3 of pregnancy is a critical stage when the embryo begins to grow rapidly. During this week, cells divide at an ...

Understanding how cells differentiate during early embryonic development is crucial for advancing regenerative medicine and developmental biology. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have been invaluable ...

Researchers from the Kind Group have gained new insights into the mechanism behind the spatial organization of DNA within the cells of early embryos. When an embryo is first formed after fertilization ...

In the earliest hours after fertilization, an embryo takes its first steps toward becoming a living organism by shedding maternal control and activating its own genetic program. This critical process, ...

Over half of our genomes consists of thousands of remnants of ancient viral DNA, known as transposable elements, which are widespread across the tree of life. Once dismissed as the "dark side" of the ...

Around eight days after fertilization, the human embryo implants in the endometrium (the tissue that lines the uterus). After implantation, it enters a developmental phase that is not well understood ...

A new study shows that the embryo and the uterine lining conduct an active "conversation" from the very earliest stages of implantation. They engage in a back and forth of tiny packages called ...

A new discovery by researchers challenges our current understanding of gastrulation, the most important stage of early embryonic development. When the zygote, or the fertilised egg, starts to develop, ...

Is there only one optimal configuration an organism can reach during evolution? Is there a single formula that describes the trajectory towards the optimum? And can we 'derive' it in a purely ...

Scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), used CRISPR to engineer cellular models of embryos that mimic what happens in the first few days after reproductive cells meet. These ...