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This lab-grown ball of human cells shares many similarities with 5-day-old human embryos.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
Researchers re-create key human embryo stage in lab
Mar. 17, 2021 , 12:25 PM
A human embryo at the blastocyst stage is smaller than the tip of a ballpoint pen and may contain fewer than 100 cells, but this developmental waypoint has long puzzled and vexed biologists and physicians. Many miscarriages occur during this stage, for example, and a blastocyst can also split to create twins. Now, multiple research groups have found ways to mimic blastocysts, coaxing lab-grown human cells to form clusters that closely resemble the true thing.