Human Embryo Collections

Introduction

While many universities hold collections of embryos from many species, very few have well-characterised collections of embryos showing human development. Many of those that are available are historic in nature, consist of histological sections, some with limited information about the embryo history.

There are groups now taking advantage of new imaging techniques to either re-evaluate these historic collections, or analysing new embryonic material. Some of these new databases are being made available online for research purposes.

Remember that this current site is for educational use only.

Carnegie Stages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | About Stages | Timeline

Carnegie Collection

Carnegie Embryos

(Carnegie Institution, USA)

• Begun by Franklin Mall in the early 1900's.
• Many of these embryos were used in the historic papers in the Contributions to Embryology series - Carnegie Institution of Washington Series.

Franklin Mall Links: Franklin Mall | 1891 26 Day Human Embryo | 1905 Blood-Vessels of the Brain | 1906 Human Ossification | 1910 Manual of Human Embryology 1 | 1912 Manual of Human Embryology 2 | 1911 Mall Human Embryo Collection | 1912 Heart Development | 1915 Tubal Pregnancy | 1916 Human Magma in Normal and Pathological Development | 1917 Frequency Human Abnormalities | 1917 Human Embryo Cyclopia | 1918 Embryo Age | 1918 Appreciation | 1934 Franklin Mall biography PDF | Mall photograph | Mall painting | Mall painting | Carnegie Stages | Carnegie Embryos | Carnegie Collection | Category:Franklin Mall | Carnegie Embryos | Contributions to Embryology Series

Kyoto Collection

Kyoto Embryos

(Kyoto University, Japan)

• Begun by Dr. Hideo Nishimura in 1961 and has over 44,000 human embryo specimens.
• Polydactyly in human embryos
  • 129 embryos with polydactyly in 36,380 human conceptuses obtained through induced abortion during the period from 1962 to 1974.
• Human embryo imaging with a super-parallel magnetic resonance (MR) microscope

Links: Kyoto Collection

Hamilton-Boyd Collection

Boyd collection placenta section

(Cambridge University, UK)

• Collected by Professor JD Boyd, Professor of Anatomy at the University in the 1950s and 1960s.
• Held at the University of Cambridge.
• Professor Boyd wrote the monographs 'Human Embryology' (Hamilton, Boyd and Mossman) and 'The Human Placenta' (Boyd and Hamilton).
• Collection is only histological sections (no tissue blocks remain)

Links: Boyd Collection

Blechschmidt Collection

Blechschmidt model on display.

(University of Goettingen, Germany)

• Erich Blechschmidt (1904–92) independently developed new methods of embryo reconstruction.
• Director of Göttingen University’s Anatomical Institute from 1942 until 1973.
• 200,000 serial sections of embryos and 64 models.
• Professor E. Blechschmidt embryological collection were assigned Carnegie Nos. 10315-10434 in 1972.
  • Professor Blechschmidt's wish was to have his collection combined with the Carnegie Collection.

Links: The Human Embryology Collection | Collections of the University Medical Center

Hubrecht Collection

• Originally located in the Netherlands Institute for Developmental Biology in Utrecht (Hubrecht Laboratory).
• In 2004 was relocated to the Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin. Incorporating the Hill collection.
• The Hubrecht Laboratory was founded in 1916 from Ambrosius Arnold Willem Hubrecht (1853-1915) personal collection.
• The collection is for comparative embryology of vertebrates and includes a large number of animal embryos (also an associated historical library).
• 600 species of chordate, in 175 families and 10 classes.
• 2,000 wet specimens.
• histological sections (A. Dohrn - Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia; L. Bolk - Vertebrates; and W. Kückenthal - Cetacea)
• material blocked out in paraffin but not sectioned.

Hill Embryological Collection

No relation to this Website's author/editor.

• James Peter Hill (1873-1954)
• University of Edinburgh, Royal College of Science in London, 1892 demonstrator in Sydney, Australia.

Links: Museum fur Naturkunde - Embryological Collection

Central Laboratory for Human Embryology

(University of Washington, USA)

• begun August 1963.
• after 18years consists of 5,200 specimens.
• range from very young embryos to full-term fetus.

Ziegler Models

Not a collection as such, but a historic series of wax models made in the 1880s based upon the embryos of Prof. Wilhelm His, Leipzig. His had earlier prepared a series of freehand models. These models are the basis of some teaching models still commercially available and used today.

The Carnegie Institute later in the early 1900's developed many additional models. (More? Carnegie Models)

Links: Wilhelm His

References

Reviews

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Articles

<pubmed>19521537</pubmed> <pubmed>17183461</pubmed>| Int J Dev Biol. <pubmed>5681297</pubmed>

Glossary Links

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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, May 4) Embryology Human Embryo Collections. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Human_Embryo_Collections

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© Dr Mark Hill 2024, UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4 - UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G