Synthetic Embryos Have Been Implanted Into Monkey Wombs (technologyreview.com) 28
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: Embryos made from stem cells -- instead of a sperm and egg -- have been created from monkey cells for the first time. When researchers put these "synthetic embryos" into the uteruses of adult monkeys, some showed the initial signs of pregnancy. It's the furthest scientists have ever been able to take lab-grown embryos in primates -- and the work hints that it may one day be possible to generate fetuses this way. The team behind the research, Zhen Liu at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai and his colleagues, started with embryonic stem cells originally taken from macaque monkey embryos. These cells have been grown in labs for multiple generations and, given the right conditions, have the potential to develop into pretty much any type of body cell, including those that make up organs, blood, and nervous system.
The team used a set of lab conditions, which they tweaked and improved, to encourage embryonic stem cells to develop further. Over several days, the cells began developing in a very similar way to embryos. The resulting blobs of cells are called blastoids, because they look like early embryos, which are called blastocysts. After the blastoids had been growing in a dish for seven days, the researchers put them through a series of tests to figure out how similar they were to typical embryos. In one test, the team separated the individual cells in the blastoids and checked to see which genes were expressed in each one. The team analyzed over 6,000 individual cells this way.
These tests revealed close similarities between the stem-cell-derived embryos and conventional monkey embryos. Some of the blastoids were grown for longer -- up to 17 days. These structures looked very much like typical embryos, the researchers say, although other scientists not involved in the study say more evidence is needed to prove just how similar they are. The only way to find out how embryo-like these blastoids really are is to test whether they can develop in a monkey's uterus. So the team put between eight and 10 seven-day-old blastoids into the uteruses of each of eight adult monkeys. The researchers then monitored the transferred blastoids for three weeks. The researchers believe that in three of these monkeys, the blastoids successfully implanted in the uterus and appeared to generate a yolk sac -- one of the very first signs of pregnancy. These monkeys also had elevated levels of pregnancy hormones. In other words, they would have had a positive pregnancy test. But within 20 days of transfer, the monkey blastoids stopped developing and seemed to come apart, say Liu and colleagues, who published their results in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The results suggest that blastoids still aren't perfect replicas of normal embryos. "That might be because a typical embryo is generated from an egg, which is then fertilized by sperm," reports MIT Technology Review. "A blastoid made from stem cells might express genes in the same way as a normal embryo, but it may be missing something crucial that normally comes from an egg."
"There's also a chance that the team might have seen more progress if the experiment had been done in more monkeys. After all, of the 484 blastoids that were developing at day seven, only five survived to day 17."
The team used a set of lab conditions, which they tweaked and improved, to encourage embryonic stem cells to develop further. Over several days, the cells began developing in a very similar way to embryos. The resulting blobs of cells are called blastoids, because they look like early embryos, which are called blastocysts. After the blastoids had been growing in a dish for seven days, the researchers put them through a series of tests to figure out how similar they were to typical embryos. In one test, the team separated the individual cells in the blastoids and checked to see which genes were expressed in each one. The team analyzed over 6,000 individual cells this way.
These tests revealed close similarities between the stem-cell-derived embryos and conventional monkey embryos. Some of the blastoids were grown for longer -- up to 17 days. These structures looked very much like typical embryos, the researchers say, although other scientists not involved in the study say more evidence is needed to prove just how similar they are. The only way to find out how embryo-like these blastoids really are is to test whether they can develop in a monkey's uterus. So the team put between eight and 10 seven-day-old blastoids into the uteruses of each of eight adult monkeys. The researchers then monitored the transferred blastoids for three weeks. The researchers believe that in three of these monkeys, the blastoids successfully implanted in the uterus and appeared to generate a yolk sac -- one of the very first signs of pregnancy. These monkeys also had elevated levels of pregnancy hormones. In other words, they would have had a positive pregnancy test. But within 20 days of transfer, the monkey blastoids stopped developing and seemed to come apart, say Liu and colleagues, who published their results in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The results suggest that blastoids still aren't perfect replicas of normal embryos. "That might be because a typical embryo is generated from an egg, which is then fertilized by sperm," reports MIT Technology Review. "A blastoid made from stem cells might express genes in the same way as a normal embryo, but it may be missing something crucial that normally comes from an egg."
"There's also a chance that the team might have seen more progress if the experiment had been done in more monkeys. After all, of the 484 blastoids that were developing at day seven, only five survived to day 17."
Yeah ... I dunno about this? (Score:3)
As "not a scientist"? I'm thinking this doesn't have a chance of working the way they're trying to do it. It's basically an experiment to see if stem cells can produce a new life by themselves, when put in a uterus like an embryo.
Just because they're capable of forming almost any type of body cell doesn't mean they can do the whole process of creating a new life on their own.
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Just because they're capable of forming almost any type of body cell doesn't mean they can do the whole process of creating a new life on their own.
That's why they are doing some *science*. This is step 4 of the scientific method
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No, the real Step 4 is fudge the results with Photoshop. [wikipedia.org]
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It's basically an experiment to see if stem cells can produce a new life by themselves
This is absolutely NOT what this whole thing is for. In short, the goal is to produce cell lines of a particular variety. What those lines are ultimately used for varies greatly, but the entire point is to have a target and have a means to produce it from stem cells. If you want really lofty goals, it may allow things like taking stem cells and producing transplantable tissue in the domain of tissue engineering. This process could present the required solution to the scaffold problem there. It may also
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to just have sex, but modern people seem to be avoiding that.
With a bit more development, we can make human babies like this and then everyone can be trans!
How much more woke can you get??
Wait a minute... (Score:2)
"There's also a chance that the team might have seen more progress if the experiment had been done in more monkeys. After all, of the 484 blastoids that were developing at day seven, only five survived to day 17."
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pretty sure it's so our soon to be AI gods can more easily make "batteries"
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if only i had karma to give.
Forming a Start-Up (Score:1)
We are now accepting funding to develop an implant that will enable the re-purposing of this appendage as an antennae to boost signal strength in the household, remote and underground locations with weak signal strength.
Able to outlast any battery powered repeater currently on the market, the human Main Appendage Link to Enhance Signals (MALES) is currently
Clones? (Score:2)
The article didn't really address the issue. But I assume each implanted embryo came from the stem cell of a single monkey, effectively making it a clone.
There's a useful basic knowledge benefit to research like this, but if it's developed further I'd be nervous about the ethics of letting people clone themselves.
Rich will clone selves in world corners (Score:2)
You know the rich are going make clones on unregulated islands or 3rd world labs.
The next generation will have to put up with 10,000 Elon's and Don's. I feel sorry for them. (The "Clown Clones".)
Don't laugh conservatives, there will also be 10,000 AOC's and M. Waters'.
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A "clone" is just genetic code.
Everything else is life experience, education - your first lover - etc.
I could clone you, and by happenstance it could end out as the next Einstein (sorry, not sure how to provide for your education, in US probably impossible, in Europe public school and public university)
Or I could clone myself and life in a forrest with no school at all: and learn nothing.
A "clone" is a genetical copy. Of your genes.
Not a copy of yourself.
I would never clone myself: makes no sense.
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Identical twins often have very similar personalities, even if raised apart. So, for example, if you cloned Donald 10k times, I bet at least 1k would have his well-known "odd" personality traits.
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I would never clone myself: makes no sense.
I could certainly see some rich folks cloning themselves out of ego.
My ethical concerns are for the resulting child. Everyone deserves their own identity and being the clone of some ultra-rich or famous person would really rob that child of the opportunity to form their own identity. Not to mention the expectations that kind of parent would put on that kind of child.
Brave New World... in development (Score:2)
There is no little bottle like that little bottle of mine. From a future where everyone is grown in a vat and tailored for their future role in life.
SciFi has cited growing a clone to have a supply of genetically identical spare parts. Curious as to where these folks are headed?
Horror Movie Fodder (Score:3)
It's only a matter of time until we have zombie monkey humans terrorizing the streets.
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QAnon?
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We call those speed bumps. Not really that scary.
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Careful, their buffalo helmets puncture tires.
Duh! Why no T-Rex? (Score:1)
Why not aiming a bit higher in the name of science?
Who needs more monkeys?
My Twitter timeline is overflowing with them.
How far do we go (Score:2)
Before the line is crossed and we end up playing God? I don't think people should be doing the latter and whether you are religious or not, you know that a Pandora's box of horrors will be flung wide open if they do.
exfoliation is murder (Score:3)
We must outlaw micro blading unless all the potential babies are saved.
Planet of the Apes (Score:3)
I come from the future with a warning.
This is where it all started
Oh, goody (Score:2)
Just what we needed