Scientists and educators have used the Carnegie Embryo Collection, housed at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, to define normal human embryo development for decades. A database, called the Virtual Human Embryo, has been created to provide digital serial sections of human embryos from the collection.

The Embryo App uses mobile telecommunication and multimedia technologies to add interactive capabilities to the digital information, enhancing our understanding of embryo development. This App is part of the National Library of Medicine’s program to fulfill the NLM’s role as a provider of medical, science and health care information using mobile technologies. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of child Health & Human Development has provided support for two components of the imaging project. Scientists at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center has supported the 3D-reconstruction of the collection to add visual dynamics to the images.


Features at a glance:

• videos showing human fertilization

• photo micrographs of early stages of embryo development Stages (1 to 23)

• digital images of the early stages both in 2-D and 3-D using visual stack dissections

• pregnancy calculator

• related resources


This project is a collaboration between:

• National Library of Medicine
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
• Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
• National Museum of Health & Medicine, Human Developmental Anatomy Center