Lab-grown human ‘embryos’ offer new research hope

BANGKOK: Scientists have developed human embryo-like structures without using sperm, an egg or fertilisation, offering hope for research on miscarriage and birth defects but also raising fresh ethical concerns. Earlier this year, several labs around the world released pre-print studies that had not been peer-reviewed, describing their development of early human embryo-like structures. But now one group´s research has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, describing how they coaxed human embryonic stem cells to self-organise into a model resembling an early embryo.

The research was welcomed by some scientists as an “impressive” advance that could help unlock secrets about the precarious early stages of pregnancies, when failure is most common. The work will however renew debate on the need for clearer ethical rules on development of lab-grown human embryo models. The researchers, led by Palestinian scientist Jacob Hanna at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, harnessed the power of embryonic stem cells, which can become any kind of cell.

They produced embryo models up to 14 days old, which is the legal limit for human embryo lab research in many countries, and the point at which organs like the brain begin to develop. The researchers say their work differs from those of other teams because it uses chemically rather than genetically modified embryonic stem cells and produces models more like real human embryos, complete with yolk sac and amniotic cavity.