Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz
Scientists use stem cells to create synthetic mouse embryos
Scientists have created "synthetic" mouse embryos from stem cells without a dad's sperm or a mom's egg or womb.
The lab-created embryos mirror a natural mouse embryo up to eight days after fertilization, containing the same structures, including one like a beating heart.
Scientists use stem cells to create models of pre-embryos
Scientists are using human stem cells to create a structure that mimics a pre-embryo and can serve as a research alternative to a real one.
They say these "blastoids" provide an efficient, ethical way to study human development and pursue biomedical discoveries in fertility and contraception.