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This week, Louise Brown, the first person born after conception by in vitro fertilization (IVF), celebrates her 40th birthday. Thanks to assisted reproductive technologies like IVF and intracytoplasmic sperm injection and to new techniques developed in laboratory animals, researchers are able to uncover new details about the processes of fertilization and reproduction in mammals. This research is providing insight into inheritance and the genetic and epigenetic contributions to offspring from both mother and father.