could artificial human embryos help with aging and disease?
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researchers hope their discovery can be used for organ tissue transplants that could solve infertility, genetic diseases and issues related to aging. getty
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a biotech company in israel holds a lot of promise for people living with disease, infertility, or even just the challenges that come with aging.
renewal bio wants to grow artificial human embryos in a lab with a long-term plan to harvest transplant organs, business insider reports, to make humanity “younger and healthier.”
in a ground-breaking feat, researchers at weizmann institute in israel created synthetic mouse embryos from mouse stem cells in a jar – without the use of sperm, eggs or a womb, according to a paper recently published in the journal cell.
while past experiments haven’t been able to keep embryos alive long enough for early-stage development, the weizmann team kept them growing in a nurturing mechanical womb where they are bathed in nutrients and provided with sufficient oxygen and atmospheric pressure. this was the first time the process had been successfully completed.
the replica embryos could not develop into fully-formed mice, but scientists say the synthetic embryos had a beating heart, blood circulation, the start of a brain, a neural tube and an intestinal tract.
now the research team’s leader, stem cell biologist jacob hanna, plans to do the same with comparable human stem cells. he said he co-founded renewal bio to move the project forward and investigate whether the approach will work with human stem cells, including his own.
these stem cells are derived from adult cells, found in most adult tissues like bone marrow or fat, rather than embryos. some experts say that achieving the feat with human stem cells might avoid some of the controversies of research and biotechnology on human embryos by providing a more ethical and technical alternative.
even in mice, for example, some experiments can’t be carried out because they would require thousands of embryos. but access to models derived from mouse embryonic cells, which can grow in lab incubators by the millions, is virtually unlimited.
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“the embryo is the best organ-making machine and the best 3d bioprinter – we tried to emulate what it does,” hanna said in a statement from the weizmann institute.
how does the science work?
cells and tissues in an embryo naturally orchestrate the development of their neighbouring cells and tissue. so growing stem cells into artificial embryos first could provide a better way of producing cell types that can be transplanted to treat human diseases. it is “more physiological,” hanna told the journal science.
hanna and his team want to use the discovery for organ tissue transplants that could solve infertility, genetic diseases and issues related to aging. mit technology review reports that blood cells from the artificial embryo might be used to help people with immunocompromised systems who are at higher risk for infection or becoming seriously ill from covid-19, for example.
researchers can already print or grow simple tissues like cartilage or bone, but making more complex cell types and organs has proven challenging, according to mit. the difference is, an embryo – even an artificial one – starts building the body naturally.
as hanna told mit, “the vision of the company is ‘can we use these organized embryo entities that have early organs to get cells that can be used for transplantation?’ we view it as perhaps a universal starting point.”
karen hawthorne is a toronto-based writer.
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