Shelby is an assistant editor for The Scientist. She earned her PhD from West Virginia University in immunology and microbiology and completed an AAAS Mass Media fellowship. View full profile. Learn ...

A recent Nature study evaluates post-implantation development in humans using embryo-like models based on genetically unmodified human naïve embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Study: Complete human day 14 ...

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 ...

The mystery of early embryonic communication is starting to be unraveled thanks to a new stem cell-based model.

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 ...

HeX-Embryoid model showing early blood cells (green) that have formed inside of blood vessels (red) surrounded by yolk sac mesoderm cells (blue) that support these tissues. University of Pittsburgh ...

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 biological and legal definitions of “embryo” don’t match, and that will become a problem, according to Nicolas Rivron, PhD, of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of ...

A stem cell–derived human embryo model at a developmental stage equivalent to that of a day 14 embryo. The model has all the compartments that define this stage: the yolk sac (yellow) and the part ...