Scientists are seeking “the organizer” — the embryonic process that sifts and shapes the development of new cells, ultimately shaping them into fully-formed humans. It’s been a difficult process.

Many types of cancer could originate from a mechanism that cells use to silence genes. This process, which is essential in embryonic development, might be accidentally reactivated in tumor cells, ...

Because ES cells maintain the ability to undergo differentiation to all cell lineages, they can provide a universal cell source for the study of the cell biology of embryogenesis. Because ES cells ...

There are some genes that are only activated in the very first days of an embryo's existence. Once they have accomplished their task, they are shut down forever, unlike most of our genes, which remain ...