Gene

Cell biology

Neuroscience

Biology

Messenger RNA

Construct (python library)

Gestation

Stem cell

Conceptus

Computer science

Computational biology

Translation (biology)

Cognitive science

Genetics

Embryo

Psychology

Regenerative medicine

Programming language

Cell

Multicellular organism

Pregnancy

Nature Materials

Despite its importance, understanding the early phases of human development has been limited by availability of human samples. The recent emergence of stem-cell-derived embryo models, a new field aiming to use stem cells to construct in vitro models to recapitulate snapshots of the development of the mammalian conceptus, opens up exciting opportunities to promote fundamental understanding of human development and advance reproductive and regenerative medicine. This Review provides a summary of the current knowledge of early mammalian development, using mouse and human conceptuses as models, and emphasizes their similarities and critical differences. We then highlight existing embryo models that mimic different aspects of mouse and human development. We further discuss bioengineering tools used for controlling multicellular interactions and self-organization critical for the development of these models. We conclude with a discussion of the important next steps and exciting future opportunities of stem-cell-derived embryo models for fundamental discovery and translation.

Stem-cell-based embryo models for fundamental research and translation