Dr Peter Rugg-Gunn in The Guardian speaking on 14-day rule on embryo research

Dr Peter Rugg-Gunn, a senior group leader in the Institute's Epigenetics research programme and the scientific lead for the Wellcome-funded Human Developmental Biology Initiative (HDBI) contributed to an article by Hannah Devlin exploring the potential benefits of extending the 14-day rule on research on human embryos. 

“The period from two weeks to four weeks has been labelled the black box of embryo development. There’s no practical way to study this currently so our knowledge is really limited. Studying embryos beyond the 14-day limit could bring benefits to patients. The sooner it could be allowed, the sooner patients could benefit in the UK.” Dr Peter Rugg-Gunn, taken from the article.

Read the full article in The Guardian here: Scientists call for review of UK’s 14-day rule on embryo research

The article follows a public dialogue, led by the Institute with HDBI and dialogue project partners, which was published in October 2023. See the Institute's press release on the publication of the dialogue findings: Public support for extending the 14-day rule on human embryo research indicated by foundational dialogue project