Dylan Bettencourt
Following the successful growth of synthetic mice embryos, scientists are closer to creating human organs without the need for sperm, eggs or a womb.
Scientists in Israel used mice cells to create a “synthetic embryo” of the animals which allows it to be born without the need of female and male mice reproducing.
Jacob Hanna of Weizmann’s Molecular Genetics Department, who led the research team, said in a statement that this is the beginning point to growing organs from scratch.
“Independent experts have argued a lot more research needs to be done before the process of growing a human embryo in this way can continue,” Hanna explained to Business Insider.
“The embryo is the best organ-making machine and the best 3D bioprinter and we tried to emulate what it does.”
Her team had previously attempted to grow mouse embryos outside of the womb in glass containers but the embryos were taken directly from the animal.
However this time round the embryos were grown from stem cells without the need for the animal itself.
Most of Hanna’s test subjects did not survive the process to begin with, but a handful of the embryos made it past the 8.5 day mark, which is the halfway point between conception and birth for mice.
Despite the study breaking new ground, James Briscoe of the Francis Crick Institute in London said it raises several ethical questions.
“Now is a good time to consider the best legal and ethical framework to regulate research and use of human synthetic embryos and to update the current regulations,” he said.
Briscoe added that we will not see human embryos grown from stem cells in the near future.
But Paul Tesar, a developmental biologist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, said the study could put a field of research into stem cell grown embryos into motion.
“This is just one step but it is a very important step for us to be able to study early development,” Tesar said.
“We’re crossing into the realm of being able to generate an embryo from scratch, and potentially a living organism. It’s been a really notable switch for the field.”
Image source: @Science
