Abstract
Embryonic development is above all a matter of time, of multiple temporal referents, of clocks and oscillations that interlock to generate space and form. How are these times materialized in biological substrates, where does the embryo look for them and how can they be interpreted ? This opening lecture will discuss this new field of study, as well as recent technological approaches that now make it possible to embrace these questions by producing and cultivating embryos in vitro. Indeed, we are no longer very far from being able to conceive and grow embryos entirely ex utero, without even resorting to germ cells, which would represent an unprecedented change in our society, with impacts as yet difficult to assess. Egalitarian opportunity or dystopian drift ? It's time for our society to take care of its embryos.
