During embryonic stem cell (ESC) development, pluripotent stem cells transition from a naïve state into a primed state before they take their first steps toward a lineage commitment. Jacob Hanna, a ...

For several years, researchers studied human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to understand the unique features of these pluripotent cells, but on their own, they poorly resembled the complex structures ...

The stem cell-based embryo model and actual human embryos share many characteristics but are distinctly different. However, internationally, not everyone agrees on the definitions and what we should ...

Cellular aggregates derived from human stem cells in previous studies could not be considered genuinely accurate human embryo models, because they lacked nearly all the defining hallmarks of a ...

Scientists are exploring ways to mimic the origins of human life without two fundamental components: sperm and egg. They are coaxing clusters of stem cells – programmable cells that can transform into ...

The earliest days after fertilization, once a sperm cell meets an egg, are shrouded in scientific mystery. The process of how a humble single cell becomes an organism fascinates scientists across ...

Some newly reported clumps of cells growing in lab dishes have been hailed as the closest things to human embryos that scientists have ever made in the lab. These entities are human embryo models — ...

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 ...

When planning a trip, it's rare that you don't have a choice of route. One may be more direct, another more scenic; but regardless of the time or route taken, the destination is the same. This concept ...