Scientists have used a mouse cell to make an artificial mouse womb without a sperm or egg. They have grown it in the womb for eight days, around one third of the time of a real mouse pregnancy. This opens a fascinating and exciting opportunity for scientists to make new human organs out of cells.
The scientists involved in the research say the objective is not to create baby mice or humans artificially, but to learn new ways to develop organs and heal people.
From a clump of embryonic stem cell, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science created a mouse womb similar to a real one. The developing mouse had folded brain tissue, intestines, a beating heart, and blood circulations. The mouse stopped developing after eight days.
Scientists are wondering if they can do this to human cells as well. But the embryo could possibly get so close to the real kind that it needed the same protection, which scientists cannot provide in the lab.
“This is an important landmark in our understanding of how embryos build themselves,” said Alfonso Martinez Arias, a biologist in Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona who is not involved in the research. He said that this is a “game changer.”
The research is far from growing a real mouse, nor a human. This embryo growing process is also extremely error-prone, even though the scientists were successful.
“The mouse is a starting point for thinking about how one wants to approach this in humans,” said Alex Meissner, a stem cell biologist. “It’s not necessary to be alarmed or raise any panic, but…as we learn, it’s important to have in parallel the discussion, how far do we want to take it?”
Jacob Hanna, the leader of the Weizmann Institute of Science said that his wish was not to reproduce living beings artificially, but to learn how to reproduce organs.
“Our goal is not to make pregnancy outside the uterus, whether it’s mice or any species,” Hanna said. “We are really facing difficulties making organs—and in order to make stems cells become organs, we need to understand how to embryo does that. We started with this because the uterus is a black box–it is not transparent.”
Stem cells can develop into any tissue or organ, and that can be used to fix spine injuries, and even patch up heart injuries. But turning cells into functioning tissue has been challenging humans for decades.
Despite these challenges, scientists are determined to finish what they have started.
The scientists involved in the research say the objective is not to create baby mice or humans artificially, but to learn new ways to develop organs and heal people.
From a clump of embryonic stem cell, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science created a mouse womb similar to a real one. The developing mouse had folded brain tissue, intestines, a beating heart, and blood circulations. The mouse stopped developing after eight days.
Scientists are wondering if they can do this to human cells as well. But the embryo could possibly get so close to the real kind that it needed the same protection, which scientists cannot provide in the lab.
“This is an important landmark in our understanding of how embryos build themselves,” said Alfonso Martinez Arias, a biologist in Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona who is not involved in the research. He said that this is a “game changer.”
The research is far from growing a real mouse, nor a human. This embryo growing process is also extremely error-prone, even though the scientists were successful.
“The mouse is a starting point for thinking about how one wants to approach this in humans,” said Alex Meissner, a stem cell biologist. “It’s not necessary to be alarmed or raise any panic, but…as we learn, it’s important to have in parallel the discussion, how far do we want to take it?”
Jacob Hanna, the leader of the Weizmann Institute of Science said that his wish was not to reproduce living beings artificially, but to learn how to reproduce organs.
“Our goal is not to make pregnancy outside the uterus, whether it’s mice or any species,” Hanna said. “We are really facing difficulties making organs—and in order to make stems cells become organs, we need to understand how to embryo does that. We started with this because the uterus is a black box–it is not transparent.”
Stem cells can develop into any tissue or organ, and that can be used to fix spine injuries, and even patch up heart injuries. But turning cells into functioning tissue has been challenging humans for decades.
Despite these challenges, scientists are determined to finish what they have started.
