wo weeks after sperm fertilizes egg is a critical time in human prenatal development. Intricate waves of signals stamp cells with their eventual fates as part of a particular organ. But studying such early-stage human embryos is both technically and bioethically complex.
Now a report in Nature from researchers in the UK and Germany provides an unprecedented view into the early human embryo – thanks to a woman who donated one after having an abortion. She donated through the Human Developmental Biology Resource, which provides automatic bioethical approval from the Institute of Human Genetics, Newcastle and the Institute of Child Health, London.
To continue reading, go to Genetic Literacy Project, where this post first appeared.