Biologists create detailed lab replicas of early human embryos

Biologists trying to create laboratory models of the early growth of a human embryo have taken a major step forward. In preprints posted online on Thursday and Friday, four research teams reported using various kinds of human stem cells, some genetically modified, to create ersatz embryos that closely resemble real embryos that are up to 14 days old, replicating a period in human development that is very difficult to study. The rush of papers was triggered when the leader of one group, developmental biologist Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, briefly described her team’s results at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) meeting in Boston on Wednesday morning. Other scientists are still assessing the four groups’ claims, but some are already impressed. “The similarity to the natural embryo is remarkable, almost uncanny," developmental biologist Jesse Veenvliet of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics says about the embryo mimics from a lab led by stem cell biologist Jacob Hanna of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Besides clarifying early human development, the new embryo models could help researchers better understand birth defects and probe the safety of drugs used during pregnancy. But they pose fraught issues. U.K. law, for example, prohibits research on donated in virto fertilization (IVF) embryos that are beyond 14 days old. But because these new models are formed from human stem cells, not eggs and sperm, that law d...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news