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The period from peri-implantation to gastrulation is critical for mammalian embryogenesis. During this time, connections between embryonic and maternal tissues are set up, and the primary germ layers and body plan are established. There is a substantial gap in our knowledge of early human postimplantation development because of technological limitations and ethical considerations. To extend the study of human embryogenesis to the postimplantation period, an in vitro culture system has been established that extends human blastocyst development to the pregastrulation stage (up to12 days) after fertilization, and the molecular and cellular events are revealed.

With the general prohibition of growing human embryos beyond 14 days, closely related surrogate species can be examined. In addition, improvements are needed for primate embryo culture to support extended growth …