Embryo Project Encyclopedia

“Test-tube baby” is a term used to refer to a baby produced through artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, also called IVF. During artificial insemination, a physician injects carefully selected sperm into a women’s uterus to fertilize her eggs. During IVF, a trained professional harvests eggs from a female donor. Those eggs are fertilized with carefully selected sperm in a petri dish. Those fertilized eggs are allowed to divide and grow in the dish for four days, at which point the trained professional inserts those eggs into the uterus of a female so she can carry the pregnancy.

Rh factor is a protein found on the outside of Rh-positive red blood cells. Rh incompatibility during pregnancy occurs when an Rh-negative mother is pregnant with an Rh-positive fetus. During delivery, the fetus' Rh-positive blood is introduced into the mother’s body. The Rh-negative mother’s body begins to produce antibodies that attack and kill Rh-positive blood cells. Since the crossover of blood normally occurs during delivery, an Rh-negative woman’s first pregnancy is normally not affected. However, the woman’s antibodies may attack a second Rh-positive fetus as those antibodies can cross into the bloodstream and destroy fetal Rh-positive blood cells.

In 2015, biologist Helena D. Zomer and colleagues published the review article “Mesenchymal and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: General Insights and Clinical Perspectives” or “Mesenchymal and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells” in Stem Cells and Cloning: Advances and Applications. The authors reviewed the biology of three types of pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells, or ESCs, mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, and induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. Pluripotent stem cells are a special cell type that can give rise to other types of cells and are essential for development. The authors describe the strengths and weaknesses of each type of stem cell for regenerative medicine applications. They state that both MSC and iPS types of stem cells have the potential to regenerate tissues among many other therapeutic possibilities. In their article, Zomer and colleagues review the potential for MSCs and iPS cells to reshape the field of regenerative and personal medicine.

The goal of this research project was to examine how different messaging techniques, and especially expressions of emotionality surrounding the loss and recovery of biodiversity, can differently influence public attitudes about conservation and the environment. This question was explored using the case of de-extinction, an emerging and controversial conservation technology. De-extinction claims to “resurrect” extinct species, challenging widely held notions of extinction as permanent. Yet seeing extinction as reversible may shift how people feel about biodiversity loss and our moral responsibility to stop it.

In 2017, Julie Carré, Nicolas Gatimel, Jessika Moreau, Jean Parinaud, and Roger Léandri published “Does Air Pollution Play a Role in Infertility?: a Systematic Review,” hereafter “Does Air Pollution Play a Role,” in the journal Environmental Health. The authors completed a systematic literature review to investigate the effects of air pollutants on fertility in exposed populations. Since air quality has an impact on overall health as well as on reproductive function, the authors sought to increase the awareness of the importance of environmental protection issues among the general public and the authorities. The article “Does Air Pollution Play a Role” provided the foundation for further research on how air pollution can contribute to low reproductive capacity in areas with high exposure.

Jérôme Lejeune was a French physician and researcher who studied genetics and developmental disorders. According to the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, in 1958, Lejeune discovered that the existence of an extra twenty-first chromosome, a condition called Trisomy 21, causes Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome is a condition present in an individual since birth and is characterized by physical and developmental anomalies such as small ears, a short neck, heart defects, and short height as children and adults. Throughout his career, Lejeune also discovered that other developmental disorders, such as cri du chat (cry of the cat) syndrome, were caused by chromosomal abnormalities. Lejeune also used his influence in the scientific community to promote pro-life beliefs, and often met with Pope John Paul II to discuss ethical dilemmas such as abortion of fetuses after detection of chromosomal abnormalities. Lejeune was one of the first researchers to link chromosomal abnormalities to developmental disorders with his discovery of Trisomy 21, leading future researchers to identify more links between the two.

George Otto Gey was a scientist in the US who studied cells and cultivated the first continuous human cell line in 1951. Gey derived the cells for that cell line, called the HeLa cell line, from a woman called Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman who had cervical cancer. Cell lines are a cluster of cells that continuously multiply on their own outside of the organism from which they originated. Gey developed new techniques for in vitro, or laboratory-based, maintenance of organs and hormonal tissue, created new methods for cell cultivation, and researched nutritional media, or cell food. Much of his research involved tissue culture, which is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions. He also founded what is now known as the Tissue Culture Association, or the TCA, which centered around furthering laboratory research around tissue culturing. By introducing new techniques and methods to cultivate human cells, Gey expanded the laboratory techniques around cell cultivation and helped contribute to a deeper understanding of the human body for future scientific research.