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Scientists have ample evidence of heart damage in COVID-19 patients. Some people, for example, show elevated levels of troponins, molecules released in the blood when the heart is injured. Others have experienced inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart and inflammation of the heart itself. But it’s been unclear whether these problems were caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus attacking the heart directly, or the damage is due to an overactive immune response.
Part of the problem is that previous studies are mixed about whether SARS-CoV-2 can invade heart tissue. Many that
haven’t found the virus use real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), says James Stone, a cardiovascular pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. RT-PCR works by detecting viral RNA in tissue, then making many DNA copies of it. Once there’s enough DNA, a molecule called a fluorescent tag can stick to it and shine to reveal its presence. But Stone says that heart tissue is often processed and preser
Jun Wu s team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have created hollow balls of cells that closely resemble embryos at the stage when they usually implant in the womb known as blastocysts. The new laboratory-made embryo-like entities have been dubbed blastoids. UT Southwestern Medical Center
toggle caption UT Southwestern Medical Center
Jun Wu s team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have created hollow balls of cells that closely resemble embryos at the stage when they usually implant in the womb known as blastocysts. The new laboratory-made embryo-like entities have been dubbed blastoids.
Scientists have created a model of an early human embryo from skin cells, a discovery which they say will revolutionise research into the causes of early miscarriage, infertility and early human development.
Researchers have successfully reprogrammed these fibroblasts or skin cells into a 3D cellular structure that is similar to human blastocysts.
Called iBlastoids, these can be used to model the biology of early human embryos in the laboratory, according to a new study.
Scientists say this is a significant breakthrough for the future study of early human development and infertility.
A few days after an egg has been fertilised, it develops into a blastocyst.
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Dr. Jun Wu s team at University of Texas Southwestern medical Center at Dallas have created hollow balls of cells that closely resemble embryos at the stage when they usually implant in the womb, which are known as blastocysts. The new laboratory-made embryos have been dubbed blastoids.
These structures made from living human cells are similar to human embryos at the stage when they implant in the womb. They allow scientists to research new ways to treat infertility.
For decades, science has been trying to unlock the mysteries of how a single cell becomes a fully formed human being and what goes wrong to cause genetic diseases, miscarriages and infertility.