Findings from the EU-funded EMBRYONIC ROSETTES project have the potential to challenge the textbook description of how an embryo develops, as well as the mechanisms that direct cells towards their embryonic or extra-embryonic fates.
As mice are genetically similar to humans, their embryos have long provided useful models to better understand human development. However, while the pre-implantation stages of mouse development have been extensively studied in the lab, this has not been the case for the implantation stages which, occurring in the uterus, have been largely hidden from view.
Further details: Fitting another jigsaw piece into our understanding of early embryo development