jun 28, 1902 - Artificial embryo twinning in a vertebrate

Description:

Salamander
Hans Spemann

Spemann’s first challenge was to figure out how to split the two cells of an embryo much stickier than sea urchin cells. Spemann fashioned a tiny noose from a strand of baby hair and tightened it between two cells of a salamander embryo until they separated. Each cell grew into an adult salamander. Spemann also tried to divide more advanced salamander embryos using this method, but he found that cells from these embryos weren’t as successful at developing into adult salamanders.

This experiment showed that embryos from a more-complex animal can also be “twinned” to form multiple identical organisms—but only up to a certain stage in development.

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