Making human eggs out of skin cells could change everything for infertile mothers or same sex parents. Here’s where the technology is today

Making human eggs out of skin cells could change everything for infertile mothers or same sex parents. Here’s where the technology is today
Credit: Midjourney/ Heenan

Scientists are a step closer to making IVF eggs from patients’ skin cells after adapting the procedure that created Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, more than two decades ago.

The work raises the prospect of older women being able to have children who share their DNA, and to overcome common forms of infertility caused by a woman’s eggs becoming damaged by disease or cancer treatment.

The radical procedure, which may take a decade to perfect and approve in humans, would also enable male couples to have genetically related children, since the men’s DNA could be combined in the fertilised egg and carried to term by a surrogate mother.

Follow the latest news and policy debates on sustainable agriculture, biomedicine, and other ‘disruptive’ innovations. Subscribe to our newsletter.

The latest experiments, published in Science Advances, were performed in mice… [Researchers] start with a donor egg and remove its nucleus. They then transfer in the nucleus from a mouse skin cell. The egg is then cultured in such a way that it naturally discards half of its chromosomes. This crucial step ensures the egg contains the correct number of chromosomes – half from each parent – once it is fertilised with a sperm.

This is an excerpt. Read the full article here

{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.singularReviewCountLabel }}
{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.pluralReviewCountLabel }}
{{ options.labels.newReviewButton }}
{{ userData.canReview.message }}
screenshot at  pm

Are pesticide residues on food something to worry about?

In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring drew attention to pesticides and their possible dangers to humans, birds, mammals and the ...
glp menu logo outlined

Newsletter Subscription

* indicates required
Email Lists
glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.