Robert G Edwards

..New outlooks in this field are summarized...

..The progress of these studies is related to ethical issues emerging during these years. The current status of these studies is outlined, together with a brief moral philosophy as practised by the original investigators...

..The advantages and disadvantages of these various classes are described in relation to potential methods involving gene conversion to change somatic cells to ES cells...

..New aspects of knowledge include the use of human oocyte maturation in vitro as an approach to simpler forms of IVF, and new concepts in developmental genetics...

..ES cells offer wide therapeutic potentials for humans, although extensive clinical trials are still awaited...

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..Some implications of these findings are considered...

..Later, the genetic controls of ES cell differentiation were assessed, together with factors switching them along specific differentiation pathways. Marker genes identified ES cells differentiating into various tissues...

..Developmental genetics gained immense analytical power as cDNA libraries, microarrays, transcriptomes RNAi and other methods clarified the roles of hundreds of genes in pre- and early post-implantation embryos and stem cells...

..They may be the source of pluripotent haemopoietic cells formed in blastocyst injection chimaeras, a characteristic typical of ES cells. Their role as the founder cell of haemopoietic and mesenchymal tissues is discussed...

..Unique features of gene expression or gene modification are described for each developmental stage...

..New aspects of knowledge include the use of human oocyte maturation in vitro as an approach to simpler forms of IVF, and new concepts in developmental genetics...

..Modifying epigenesis had thus opened pathways to full-term parthenogenetic development. The birth of these parthenogenotes fulfils the attempts of earlier scientists to invoke parthenogenesis in experimental animals...

..These three approaches are now practised in increasing numbers of IVF clinics, and may well replace routine IVF. The events leading to current interest in these methods will be discussed briefly in this review...

..The future may have even more bizarre possibilities such as producing medicines in cow's milk or trees and delaying death for many years...

..These matters are discussed at the end of this review where various investigations clarify the benefits and drawbacks of these varied approaches to tissue repair...

..Current liberalism in studies on assisted conception, clearly threatened by powerful adversaries, will have to be fortified to maintain the current impetus into newer forms of clinical care...

..A brief conclusion describes some of the friendships initiated in Johns Hopkins and still intact today...

..Various genetic and developmental factors in infertile couples influencing the origin of such birth outcomes are assessed, and the significance of imprinting and its embryological roles are discussed...

..A general summary briefly describes some other aspects of regulation, especially chromosomal anomalies in human embryos...

..This massive failure of most embryos to implant poses numerous questions on the evolution of this situation in humans...

..Rapid recent advances in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and in-vitro maturation (IVM) of human oocytes are leading to vast changes in the practice of IVF. This article attempts to define the various approaches to these new methods...

..Special attention is paid to well-characterized trophectoderm, the trophectoderm stem cell, and possible new forms of clinical application...

..Nevertheless it is a pleasure to recall how we shared so much in common. I still admire him as an inspiration to many colleagues and students, and a father figure in French agricultural research...

..No signs of inflammation or cancer were noted. First studies on human embryo stem cells began, but were ended by an ethical decision preventing supplies of human blastocysts for research...

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..Problems in jointly identifying maternal proteins and embryonic and maternal transcripts for specific proteins within one cell, and the nature of early cell allocation in mouse and human embryo, are discussed...

..The findings reported in this study should be withdrawn, and a rigorous statistical evaluation should be carried out to provide a proper assessment of the data...

..This paper discusses the finer details of these options, their safety and the ethical issues they have raised...