Scientists have created the world’s first “synthetic” embryo

A group of researchers from the Israeli Wiesemann Institute of Science, led by molecular geneticist Joseph Hanna, succeeded in create a synthetic mouse “embryo” in the lab without fertilized eggs or uterus.

This model will potentially allow us to gain insight into what happens in the early stages of human pregnancy. The researchers were able to imitate all the components of the fetus – the rudiments of the heart, circulatory system, brain and other organs, as well as cells like those found in the placenta and other tissues necessary for the development of pregnancy.

Research can be important. In humans, many pregnancies are lost at this stage, and doctors still don’t know why. Having an artificial model will help you understand what is going wrong and how to prevent it. The mouse embryo model has so far been able to survive only eight weeks of a 20-week embryonic cycle.

However, the researchers pursued other goals. The startup’s goal is to develop synthetic human stem cells in an attempt to “solve” human health problems. Modern science will be ready for this only in a few decades.

The company Bio Renewal, for which the research was conducted, wants to create fetal stage versions of humans so that tissues can be harvested for transplantation.

Critics of the idea said that now is not the time to talk about creating synthetic human embryos, especially given the wider political context and controversy surrounding the study.

Nicolas Rivron, a stem cell specialist at the Vienna Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, said the research was unnecessary and should not be done. And he is not alone in his criticism.

James Briscoe of the Francis Crick Institute in London stressed that synthetic human embryos are not the immediate future.

“We know less about human embryos than we do about mice, and the inefficiency of synthetic mouse embryos suggests that transferring results to humans requires further development,” he added.

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