In a world first, Chinese scientists have reported editing the genomes of human embryos. The results are published1 in the online journal Protein & Cell and confirm widespread rumours that such experiments had been conducted — rumours that sparked a high-profile debate last month2, 3 about the ethical implications of such work.
Tag: embryos
Preventing Deformed Limbs: Researchers Find New Link Between Physical Forces and Limb Development
University of Toronto engineers and a pediatric surgeon have joined forces to discover how physical forces like pressure and tension affect the development of limbs in embryos—research that could someday be used to help prevent birth defects.
Virus Hiding in Our Genome Protects Early Human Embryos
We may owe our survival and complexity to a stowaway virus that springs to life in the very first cells of human embryos. Not only does the virus seem to protect embryos from other viruses, but it also assists genes when the groundwork is under way for the body plan of a new human.
Why Is The Scientific World Abuzz About An Unpublished Paper? Because It Could Permanently Change Human DNA
Scientists around the world are anticipating the results of a Chinese study that would mark the first time DNA in a human embryo has been modified in a way that would carry into future generations. Although the embryos would be for study only, and not intended for implantation, the research would mark a significant milestone: the first time human DNA had been altered so substantially that it would change the “germ line” — the eggs or sperm of any child produced from the embryo.
New Fertility Procedure To Help Hopeful Parents
The FDA has cleared new technology to help in vitro fertilization, or IVF, patients by using time-lapse technology that identifies embryos with the highest likelihood to survive. The Fertility Center of San Antonio is the only center of its kind in Texas and the southern part of the country using this new technology.
IVF Nutrients May Dictate if the Baby’s a Boy or Girl
Will it be a boy or a girl? For people undergoing IVF, the nutrient-rich liquid their embryos grow in could tip the balance. The finding adds to mounting evidence that the culture medium is playing a role in an embryo’s development and future health.
Ethics Of Embryo Editing Divides Scientists
Research that uses powerful gene-editing techniques on human embryos needs to be restricted, scientists agree — but they are split over why.Some say that if safety fears can be allayed, such applications could have a bright future, and could help to eradicate devastating diseases.
Mutation May Cause Early Loss of Sperm Supply
Problems in a gene responsible for producing the protein TAF4b leave mice — and maybe men — unable to sustain sperm production. As embryos, mice lacking the protein failed to develop an adequate number of key cells in the sperm production process and as adults they quickly lost their initial fertility.
Fertility Clinic First in Canada to Allow IVF Patients to ‘Incubate’ Embryos Inside their Bodies
A Toronto fertility clinic has become the first in Canada to offer women undergoing in-vitro fertilization the chance to “incubate” the embryos they hope will one day become a baby inside their bodies, instead of a lab dish.
Should Celebrities Come Clean About Infertility?
Singer Sophie B. Hawkins, 50, recently dropped a major baby bomb — not only is she expecting her second child (a little girl), she became pregnant using 15 embryos that she had frozen back when she was 31-years-old.