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Welcome to The Visible Embryo, a comprehensive educational resource on human development from conception to birth.

The Visible Embryo provides visual references for changes in fetal development throughout pregnancy and can be navigated via fetal development or maternal changes.

The National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development awarded Phase I and Phase II Small Business Innovative Research Grants to develop The Visible Embryo. Initally designed to evaluate the internet as a teaching tool for first year medical students, The Visible Embryo is linked to over 600 educational institutions and is viewed by more than ' million visitors each month.
WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform
The World Health Organization (WHO) has created a new Web site to help researchers, doctors and patients obtain reliable information on high-quality clinical trials. Now you can go to one website and search all registers to identify clinical trial research underway around the world!
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Disclaimer: The Visible Embryo web site is provided for your general information only. The information contained on this site should not be treated as a substitute for medical, legal or other professional advice. Neither is The Visible Embryo responsible or liable for the contents of any websites of third parties which are listed on this site.
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Pregnancy Timeline by SemestersFetal liver is producing blood cellsHead may position into pelvisBrain convolutions beginFull TermWhite fat begins to be madeWhite fat begins to be madeHead may position into pelvisImmune system beginningImmune system beginningPeriod of rapid brain growthBrain convolutions beginLungs begin to produce surfactantSensory brain waves begin to activateSensory brain waves begin to activateInner Ear Bones HardenBone marrow starts making blood cellsBone marrow starts making blood cellsBrown fat surrounds lymphatic systemFetal sexual organs visibleFinger and toe prints appearFinger and toe prints appearHeartbeat can be detectedHeartbeat can be detectedBasic Brain Structure in PlaceThe Appearance of SomitesFirst Detectable Brain WavesA Four Chambered HeartBeginning Cerebral HemispheresFemale Reproductive SystemEnd of Embryonic PeriodEnd of Embryonic PeriodFirst Thin Layer of Skin AppearsThird TrimesterSecond TrimesterFirst TrimesterFertilizationDevelopmental Timeline
Click weeks 0 - 40 and follow fetal growth
Google Search artcles published since 2007
 
May 17, 2011--------News Archive

Older Fathers Linked to Autism In Children
Researchers sequenced protein-coding sections of affected childrens' genomes and their findings support population studies showing that autism is more common among children of older parents, especially older fathers.

Gene Variation Linked to Infertility in Women
A variation in a gene involved in regulating cholesterol also appears to affect progesterone in women, making it a likely culprit in cases of infertility.

May 16, 2011--------News Archive

Genetic Clue to Common Birth Defects Found
Scientists at King’s College London have for the first time uncovered a gene responsible for Adams-Oliver Syndrome, giving valuable insight into the possible genetic causes of common birth defects found in the wider population.

'Master switch' For Obesity and Diabetes Discovered
A gene linked to type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels is in fact a 'master regulator' gene, which controls other genes found within fat in the body.

Tiny Change in One Gene May Explain Human Brain
The deep fissures and convolutions that increase the surface area and allow for rational and abstract thoughts of the human brain may be due to the LAMC3 gene.

Gene Change Can Get You Cancer Or Normal Growth
The deep fissures and convolutions that increase the surface area and allow for rational and abstract thoughts of the human brain may be due to one gene.

WHO Child Growth Charts

On the left, the occipital region of a normal human brain is circled. On the right, the same area of the brain of a subject with mutation of LAMC3 gene is smooth, and lacks normal folds and convolutions.

Courtesy of Yale University
The human brain has yet to explain the origin of one its defining features – the deep fissures and convolutions that increase its surface area and allow for rational and abstract thoughts.

An international collaboration of scientists from the Yale School of Medicine and Turkey may have discovered humanity's beneficiary – a tiny variation within a single gene that determines the formation of brain convolutions – they report online May 15 in the journal Nature Genetics.

A genetic analysis of a Turkish patient whose brain lacks the characteristic convolutions in part of his cerebral cortex revealed that the deformity was caused by the deletion of two genetic letters from 3 billion in the human genetic alphabet. Similar variations of the same gene, called laminin gamma3 (LAMC3), were discovered in two other patients with similar abnormalities.

"The demonstration of the fundamental role of this gene in human brain development affords us a step closer to solve the mystery of the crown jewel of creation, the cerebral cortex," said Murat Gunel, senior author of the paper and the Nixdorff-German Professor of Neurosurgery, co-director of the Neurogenetics Program and professor of genetics and neurobiology at Yale.

The folding of the brain is seen only in mammals with larger brains, such as dolphins and apes, and is most pronounced in humans.

These fissures expand the surface area of the cerebral cortex and allow for complex thought and reasoning without taking up more space in the skull. Such foldings aren't seen in mammals such as rodents or other animals.

Despite the importance of these foldings, no one has been able to explain how the brain manages to create them. The LAMC3 gene – involved in cell adhesion that plays a key role in embryonic development – may be crucial to the process.

An analysis of the gene shows that it is expressed during the embryonic period that is vital to the formation of dendrites, which form synapses or connections between brain cells.

"Although the same gene is present in lower organisms with smooth brains such as mice, somehow over time, it has evolved to gain novel functions that are fundamental for human occipital cortex formation and its mutation leads to the loss of surface convolutions, a hallmark of the human brain," Gunel said.

Major funding for the study was provided by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke through the Recovery Act. Several institutions from Turkey contributed to the paper. Co-lead authors of the paper were Tanyeri Barak and Kenneth Y Kwan of Yale. Other Yale authors include Angeliki Louvi, Murim Choi, Ying Zhu Saliha Yılma, Mehmet Bakırcıog˘lu, Ahmet Okay Çag˘layan, Ali Kemal Öztürk, Katsuhito Yasuno, Richard A Bronen, Shrikant Mane, Richard P Lifton, Nenad Šestan and Kaya Bilgüvar. Original article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/yu-tvi051311.php