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Mouse Embryo Created From Stem Cells For The First Time
BBC Focus - Science & Technology
|April 2017
By using two different types of stem cell, researchers at the University of Cambridge have successfully built an artificial mouse embryo in the laboratory – a breakthrough that may help us understand why two out of three human pregnancies fail during the early stages.
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Our knowledge of early embryo development is still quite hazy, partly because of the strict rules around research involving real-life human embryos. The technique pioneered in Cambridge involves bringing together two types of stem cell: the embryonic stem cells (ESCs) that will go on to form the mouse’s body, and the trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) that will go on to form the placenta.
This story is from the April 2017 edition of BBC Focus - Science & Technology.
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