First synthetic human embryo model created from stem cells

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New Delhi, June 15

In a major breakthrough, scientists from the University of Cambridge and California Institute of Technology have reported creating the world’s first synthetic human embryo models using stem cells and without using eggs or sperm.

These structures have no organs like the brain or the heart and are at very early stages of human development.

But these have cells that would proceed to form the placenta, yolk sac and the embryo, said scientists about a research that is yet to be published in journals but has been accepted for publication.

Aim not to create life

Our aim is not to create life but to prevent its loss and understand why embryos sometimes fail to develop after fertilisation and implantation. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, Scientist

The Guardian first reported the findings presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in Boston held on Wednesday.

“We can create human embryo-like models by the reprogramming of embryonic stem cells,” Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of the University of Cambridge and Caltech told the gathering. She said the embryo-like models that her lab created were grown from single human embryonic stem cells that developed into three distinct tissue layers.

“These synthetic embryos have cells that would typically go on to develop a yolk sac, a placenta and the embryo itself,” said a British media report. Goetz separately told CNN that the embryonic models she created are also the first to have germ cells that would go on to develop into eggs and sperm.

“But I wish to stress that these are not human embryos. These are embryo models but they are very similar to human embryos and could help understand reasons behind recurrent miscarriages and genetic disorders since most pregnancies fail around the time of the development at which we build these embryo models. To my knowledge, this is the first time a human model embryo has been created with three tissue layers,” she said.

Scientists said the study was triggered by their need to understand the black box period of human development. The black box period is the period following 14 days after fertilisation, which is the agreed limit for scientists to grow and study embryos in a lab.

The discovery could promote research into the early stages of development by reducing dependence on human embryos arising from in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Scientists in India said the work presented vast research possibilities but equally posed ethical questions. Human embryos developed from IVF are governed by laws but there are no regulations on stem cell-based models of human embryos. The Guardian, quoting experts, said there was no immediate prospect of clinical use of synthetic human embryos and it would be illegal to implant them into a patient’s womb.

Also, the potential of these model embryos maturing beyond the earliest stages of development is currently unknown. Right now, synthetic human embryos are confined to test tubes.

“Our aim is not to create life but to prevent its loss, and understand why embryos sometimes fail to develop after fertilisation and implantation,” Goetz was quoted by foreign media as saying.