Despite being an essential developmental process, the understanding of human embryonic genome activation is limited, owing to the lack of in vitro cell models and ethical concerns. To advance ...

Biologists have provided new insights on a longstanding puzzle in biology: How complex organisms arise from a single fertilized cell. Producing a new 'gene atlas' with 4-D imaging, the researchers ...

When the egg and sperm fuse, a comprehensive reorganization of DNA begins within the nucleus. Epigenetics plays a crucial role in this process, regulating gene activity through chemical modifications ...

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 ...

Transposable elements are stretches of DNA that can move around the genome. Many of these DNA sequences originate from long ago, when viruses inserted their genetic material into our ancestors' ...

Researchers at the Center for Embryology and Healthy Development (CRESCO) aim to find out why so many early embryos fail in their development. New insights into how maternal and paternal DNA is ...

Researchers have used naïve pluripotent stem cells to create an embryo model that looks and acts like a natural human embryo. They say it’s an ethical way of gaining a better understanding of ...

A lot happens in the first month of human embryo development as a single cell morphs into multitudes. Yet despite its significance, this period is basically a “black box” to researchers, says stem ...

Why doesn’t a ‘good’ embryo always lead to pregnancy in IVF? Explore key factors beyond embryo quality that affect IVF ...

Researchers have discovered a key transition in early embryonic development is facilitated by decreasing levels of a viral protein inserted into the DNA of our early animal ancestors. Researchers at ...