A £10 million UK-based research project plans to unlock the secrets of the development of human embryos.
Researcher will track the development of embryos up to 20 weeks after fertilisation, the Wellcome Trust said.
The aim is that scientists can build a "family tree" of how cells divide and specialise after fertilisation, Wellcome said.
The five-year project is to be known as the Human Developmental Biology Initiative and will focus on the early human embryo, the brain and spinal cord, the blood and immune system and the heart and lungs, developers said.
Wellcome said researchers would use donated human embryos and foetal tissue – but would "actively work" to consider the ethical issues within the area of research.
Wellcome’s head of cellular and developmental science Andrew Chisholm said: "This new initiative brings together a diverse group of biologists from across the country to share their expertise and work together to build a ‘family tree’ of how different cells and tissues come together to form organs. This will create a treasure trove of data and technologies that will be made available to the community.
“Thanks to new techniques and technologies to study human development the HDBI will provide insights that could help our understanding of developmental disorders."
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