Breakthrough in science: created synthetic human embryos

Scientists have created synthetic human embryos using stem cells, a groundbreaking achievement that “bypasses the need for eggs or sperm,” the Guardian reports today.

Scientists claim that these “model embryos” resemble a human embryo in its early stages of development. Thanks to the discovery, it will be possible to obtain important information about the consequences of genetic disorders and the biological causes of recurrent miscarriages.

This scientific achievement raises serious ethical and legal questions, since the essences grown in laboratories are not subject to either the current legislation of the United Kingdom or the legislation of most countries in the world, the British newspaper explains.

At synthetic embryos do not have a beating heart or any early form of brainbut they include cells that, in later stages, usually form the placenta and the embryo itself.

“We have learned to create templates that look like human embryos are reprogrammed [эмбриональные стволовые] cells”explained Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of the University of Cambridge and Caltech, presenting the paper at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Boston.

There are no prospects for the clinical use of synthetic embryos in the near future: it would be illegal to implant them in a patient’s uterus, and it is not yet clear whether these “structures” are capable of continuing maturation beyond the early stages of development.

The researchers’ motivation, as explained in the paper, is to “unravel” period of embryonic development, called the “black box”. This name comes from the fact that since scientists are only allowed to grow embryos in the lab until the legal deadline of 14 days, the study of development can only continue at a much later stage, with ultrasound and embryo donation for science.

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