Topic description and stories

The Vice-Chancellor's Awards 2023 for Research Impact and Engagement

13 Dec 2023

Meet the winner of the Vice-Chancellor's Awards 2023 for Research Impact and Engagement and learn more about their projects.

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Day 4 embryoid

Human embryo-like models created from stem cells to understand earliest stages of human development

27 Jun 2023

Cambridge scientists have created a stem cell-derived model of the human embryo in the lab by reprogramming human stem cells. The breakthrough could...

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Human embryo cultured in vitro

Study suggests embryos could be susceptible to coronavirus as early as second week of pregnancy

05 Aug 2020

Genes that are thought to play a role in how the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects our cells have been found to be active in embryos as early as during the...

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Seven-day old gastruloid

Scientists develop mouse ‘embryo-like structures’ with organisation along body’s major axes

03 Oct 2018

A team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has developed an artificial mouse embryo-like structure capable of forming the three major axes...

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Synthetic embryo-like structure made of three stem cells types in yellow, pink and green

Scientists generate key life event in artificial mouse ‘embryo’ created from stem cells

23 Jul 2018

The creation of artificial embryos has moved a step forward after an international team of researchers used mouse stem cells to produce artificial...

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Genome editing reveals role of gene important for human embryo development

20 Sep 2017

Researchers have used genome editing technology to reveal the role of a key gene in human embryos in the first few days of development. This is the...

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Human reproduction likely to be more efficient than previously thought

13 Jun 2017

How difficult is it to conceive? According to a widely-held view, fewer than one in three embryos make it to term, but a new study from a researcher...

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Stem cell-modelled embryo at 96 hours (left); Embryo cultured in vitro for 48 hours from the blastocyst stage (right)

Scientists create artificial mouse ‘embryo’ from stem cells for first time

02 Mar 2017

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have managed to create a structure resembling a mouse embryo in culture, using two types of stem cells –...

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Imaging a human embryo in the absence of maternal tissues - day 10 (left) and day 11 (right)

Cambridge study named as People’s Choice for Science magazine’s ‘Breakthrough of the Year 2016’

22 Dec 2016

Cambridge research that will enable scientists to grow and study embryos in the lab for almost two weeks has been named as the People’s Choice for...

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abstract blood cells

Anatomy of a decision: mapping early development

06 Jul 2016

In the first genome-scale experiment of its kind, researchers have gained new insights into how a mouse embryo first begins to transform from a ball...

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Imaging a human embryo in the absence of maternal tissues - day 10 (left) and day 11 (right)

Scientists develop human embryos beyond implantation stage for first time

04 May 2016

A new technique that allows embryos to develop in vitro beyond the implantation stage (when the embryo would normally implant into the womb) has been...

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Embryo development: Some cells are more equal than others even at four-cell stage

24 Mar 2016

Genetic ‘signatures’ of early-stage embryos confirm that our development begins to take shape as early as the second day after conception, when we...

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