“Scientists create artificial human embryos from stem cells without eggs or sperm” | Daily list

A team of scientists has created artificial human embryos using stem cells, without the need to resort to eggs or sperm, a revolutionary breakthrough that could aid in the investigation of genetic disorders.

According to the British newspaper The Guardian on Thursday, this is an innovative step in science and research, however, at the same time, it raises ethical dilemmas and legal issues.

Experts from the United Kingdom and the United States note that these model embryos, found at early stages of human development, could provide an “important window” into the biological causes of recurrent miscarriages, for example.

Although the placenta contains the cells that make up the yolk and the embryo, these structures do not have a heartbeat or the beginnings of a brain.

“By reprogramming cells we can create models like human embryos,” says California Institute of Technology (USA) professor Magdalena Zernica-Coetz, in an intervention carried out within the framework of the international association’s annual conference in Boston. Stem cell research.

Accordingly, there is now no short-term prospect of these artificial embryos being used clinically, and it is illegal to implant them into a patient’s uterus.

It is also not yet clear whether these structures have the potential to continue to mature beyond the early stages of development.

In another appearance at the conference, Robin Lovell-Badge, head of stem cell biology and developmental genetics at the Francis Crick Institute (London), said, “If we can actually model normal human embryonic development using stem cells, you don’t use early-stage embryos to research how we initiate development and what can go wrong. You can get a lot of information about it.”