By introducing and tracking mutations as the cells of a mouse embryo divide, researchers have mapped relationship between cells. Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library ‘Cell recorders’ based on gene editing have captured mouse development in unprecedented detail. Two independent teams of scientists published the findings today in Science and in Cell. One team recorded the
Human brain tissue transplanted into mice that lack a key part of their brains can grow to occupy most of the vacant space and wire into the animals’ nervous systems. That’s according to a study published on 16 September in Nature1, which describes the most extensive integration of human brain cells into an animal so
Genetically encoded cortical depletion Emx1-cre (JAX, B6.129S2-Emx1tm1(cre)Krj/J), Esco2fl/fl (JAX, B6N.129S-Esco2tm1.1Ge/J) and C57BL SCID (JAX, B6.Cg-Prkdcscid/SzJ) mice were used to generate the breeding scheme: male Esco2fl/flPrkdcscid/scid × female Emx1-cre+/−Esco2fl/+Prkdcscid/scid. Breeder and offspring cages were supplemented with breeder chow (Envigo Teklad 2919) and DietGel 76A (with plant protein) to help to increase pup survival. Some breeders were more prone to
Bower, O. J. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10792-1 (2026). Article Google Scholar Jerabek, S. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11118-x (2026). Article Google Scholar Porto, E. M., Komor, A. C., Slaymaker, I. M. & Yeo, G. W. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 19, 839–859 (2020). Article PubMed Google Scholar Rees, H. A. & Liu, D. R. Nature Rev. Genet.
Developing sperm (blue; artificially colored) fill the center of the seminiferous tubules (orange), which form the human testicle.Credit: Susumu Nishinaga/Scientific Photo Library A cutting-edge operation has restored a man’s ability to produce sperm by transplanting tissue samples that were removed from one of his testicles and frozen 16 years earlier, when he was still a
Researchers are trying to produce human sperm (shown here in a colored electron microscope image) from stem cells in the laboratory.Credit: Juergen Berger/Scientific Photo Library It sounds like science fiction: collecting blood cells from a person, engineering them to eventually develop into immature sperm, and then incubating them in a small sac grown in a
