A French physicist caught on tape the first steps of the mice fertilization process. The mechanisms to transfer the sperm DNA inside the oocyte remain largely unknown.
Archives par étiquette : biophysical meeting
‘IVF chip’ helps capture images of sperm fusing with egg
Every mammal on this planet starts in the same way: a sperm encounters an egg and fuses with it. This process is familiar to every eighth grade biology student, and pictures of the event can be found in every biology text book. However, despite this ubiquity, the detailed mechanics of the process itself is still somewhat of a mystery.
Mammalian fertilization, caught on tape
The development of every animal in the history of the world began with a simple step: the fusion of a spermatozoon (the male gamete) with an oocyte, or egg (the female gamete). Despite the ubiquity of this process, the actual mechanisms through which fertilization occurs remain poorly understood. A new tool developed by a team of French biophysicists may soon shed light on this still-mysterious process, and has already captured highly detailed images of what happens when sperm and egg first touch.
Mammalian fertilization, caught on tape
Using a new microfluidic device called the ‘IVF chip,’ scientists obtain the first images with both high spatial and temporal resolution of the initial steps of fertilization.
Fertilization process caught on tape for the first time
Around seventh grade, every child learns how sperm and egg meet to produce a human zygote, which will later grow into an embryo and baby. It may be a ubiquitous process, but up until now researchers have remained in the dark about the underlying mechanisms of fertilization. French biophysicists, however, have created a tool that provides highly- detailed images of what happens during the first moments of the fertilization proces.