A sensational discovery: synthetic human embryos were created in the laboratory without ova and without sperm but through stem cells.
This is what is reported in an exclusive by the Guardian which takes up the announcement of the biologist Magdalena Żernicka-Goetz , of the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology , who spoke yesterday at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Boston.
" We can create models similar to human embryos by reprogramming (embryonic stem) cells ," the researcher said at the meeting.
The structures obtained from stem cells, reports the Guardian, do not have a beating heart or the beginning of a brain, but include cells that would normally form the placenta, the yolk sac and the embryo itself .
Full details of the Cambridge-Caltech lab's latest work have yet to be published in a scientific journal . But, speaking at the conference, Żernicka-Goetz described growing embryos to a stage just above the equivalent of 14 days of development for a natural embryo.
The scientists say these model embryos could provide a crucial window to study both genetic diseases and the biological causes of recurrent miscarriages.
However, the British newspaper points out, the work also raises serious ethical, legal and legislative problems.
(Unioneonline/vl)
