A scientific advance and many questions. As revealed on Wednesday guardian, British scientists have succeeded in creating the first synthetic human embryos. Organisms born from stem cells, without sperm or eggs.
It was Professor Magdalena Żernicka-Goetz from the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology who announced this discovery. An announcement made at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research. For now, the content of her research has not been formalized in a scientific journal.
Study the process of embryonic development
At this stage, these organisms have neither a heart nor a brain, but they should make it possible to study the development process of the embryo. The study of “real” embryos is now only possible in the laboratory up to a legal limit of 14 days in the UK and 7 days in France. Research can only be resumed through ultrasound, at a much more advanced stage of development, during pregnancy.
It is this unknown period that researchers hope to be able to observe thanks to synthetic organisms, and thus better understand the emergence of genetic diseases in the hope of remedying them. Studies that could also understand and perhaps prevent certain miscarriages.
“The idea is that if you actually model normal human embryonic development using stem cells, you can get a lot of information about how development happens, what can go wrong, without having to use early (real) embryos for research,” he explained. him guardian Robin Lovell-Badge, Head of Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics at the Francis Crick Institute in London.
A vague legal framework
For now, this is just a theory. UK law specifies that it would be illegal to “plant” a synthetic embryo into a uterus to carry development to term. But to what extent can they be grown in the laboratory? The vagueness remains. The researchers have stepped out of the law faster than anticipated and are considering establishing an ethical code to limit themselves.
“If the intention is for these models to closely resemble normal embryos, they should be treated in the same way (…) However, current legislation does not contemplate that. People are concerned about this,” Robin Lovell-Insignia said.
In addition, if the legislation allowed the establishment of these organisms, it is not yet clear if they would give rise to the birth of “normal” living humans. Synthetic mouse embryos were created and then implanted into a uterus, without this resulting in a viable birth. Chinese researchers conducted a similar experiment last April, signs of pregnancy appeared, but development stopped after a few days.
Source: BFM TV
