Each year, tens of thousands of babies are born in the United States as the result of IVF (in vitro fertilization) – where several eggs are fertilized outside the mother’s body and then an embryo is selected for transfer into…
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Scientists create a novel cell model for understanding human development
The earliest moments of human development—between the time of fertilization and when the embryo implants in the womb—have remained opaque to scientists. Cells in the earliest stages of human development have the ability to generate all tissues in the body…
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Feinstein Institutes awarded $2.9 million NIH funding for polygenic embryo selection studies
Genetic testing and selection of embryos generated from in vitro fertilization (IVF) have given rise to the controversial “designer baby” debate. Recently, the use of a new technology called polygenic embryo selection (PES) has developed to identify the risk for…
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Researchers uncover the embryonic origin of the heart
Researchers from the Francis Crick Institute have studied the earliest point at which the heart forms during embryonic development and revealed, for the first time, that each part of the heart has a unique origin. Their study in mice, published…
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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. If all chromosomes could be disentangled and linearly aligned, they would be a thin thread of about 2…
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New method for growing embryos outside the womb
To observe how a tiny ball of identical cells on its way to becoming a mammalian embryo first attaches to an awaiting uterine wall and then develops into nervous system, heart, stomach and limbs: This has been a highly-sought grail…
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Study reveals how lung alveolus forms at cellular level
Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have determined what happens at a cellular level as the lung alveolus forms and allows newborns to breathe air. Understanding this process gives researchers a better sense of how to develop therapies and…
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Chances of pregnancy no higher with frozen over fresh embryo transfer
Freezing embryos for later transfer as part of assisted reproductive treatment does not result in a higher chance of pregnancy compared with fresh embryo transfer, finds a study published by The BMJ today. The researchers say the findings warrant caution…
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