In a troubling development, scientists in Israel have grown a “synthetic human embryo model” without using a human egg or sperm.
Without a woman’s womb or human sperm and eggs, researchers say that can recreate the earliest days of pregnancy.
Professor Hank Greely of Stanford University Law School’s Center for Law and the Biosciences predicted parents will regularly choose from lab-made embryos within 30 years.
For the first time, scientists have grown whole model of a human embryo without sperm, eggs or a womb.
The embryo model even released hormones that turned a pregnancy test positive in the lab. pic.twitter.com/6rtLNkV16m
— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 6, 2023
Scientists working at the Weizmann Institute of Science said they are “paving the way for advances in fertility and transplants.”
A research paper was published in the journal Nature under the title “Complete human day 14 post-implantation embryo models from naïve ES cells.”
Professor Jacob Hanna is leading the team.
Hanna said, “Our stem cell-derived human embryo model offers an ethical and accessible way of peering into this box. It closely mimics the development of a real human embryo, particularly the emergence of its exquisitely fine architecture.”
Scientists successfully grew the human embryo models outside of a womb until key embryonic features such as a yolk sac and the precursor to a placenta appeared. https://t.co/ja8Xh4vXia pic.twitter.com/AsSxhMBwcZ
— IGN (@IGN) September 8, 2023
The scientists say they are looking to find “an ethical way of studying the way stem cells form organs.”
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge in Britain also used stem cells to create a “synthetic human embryo.”
There is significant controversy surrounding the creation of synthetic human embryos. Millions of Americans will undoubtedly call for stricter regulations on this research.
Researchers believe they will find more information to help prevent early pregnancy failure.
