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A University of California, Riverside study reports that cells in the earliest stages of human development could be susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, offering new insight into how the virus interacts with developing human tissues and why that may matter for pregnancy research.

Using a "disease-in-a-dish" laboratory model of early human embryonic development, researchers Ann Song and Prue Talbot examined how different cell types respond to exposure to artificial SARS-CoV-2–like particles. They found that multiple early embryonic cell types can be infected, but susceptibility varies significantly.…