Embryonic development is a meticulously orchestrated process in which spatial and temporal cues guide cell fate determination and tissue patterning. Central to this process is morphogen signalling – a ...

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, ...

Animal embryos go through a series of characteristic developmental stages on their journey from a fertilized egg cell to a functional organism. This biological process is largely genetically ...

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 ...

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 ...

Over the past few decades, growing evidence has challenged the belief that inheritance is governed solely by DNA sequences. Scientists now recognise the crucial role of epigenetic inheritance – the ...

A team of scientists at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) has uncovered a previously unknown mechanism that controls how genes are switched ‘on’ and ‘off’ during embryonic development.

Genes are the control panel for an embryo morphing from a ball of cells into organs, muscles, and limbs, but there's more ...