On becoming accepting of the imperfectionsin mammalian embryogenesis

Excerpt

Despite growing evidence to the contrary, the human embryo has been accorded special status assayable with advancing technologies aimed at ascertaining morphological, genetic, and cell biological parameters believed to be predictive of implantation and term development potential. That these indices of embryo quality perceived during the propagation of the blastocyst ex vivo are reliable and predictive is a major tenet of the practice of ARTs in clinical settings. The seasoned, but not widely acknowledged, notion that early embryogenesis in mammals shares features not unlike those exhibited by cancer cells has been challenging to contextualize and compounds our efforts to objectify in a meaningful way the perfections and imperfections of this dynamic process. …