Scientific first as artificial embryos created

Artificial embryos built from scratch using stem cells have been created by British scientists.

Researchers bypassed fertilisation by growing the self-assembling structures in the laboratory.

Although the cells used were from mice, the experiment opens up a new frontier in embryo research, with major ethical implications.

Creating embryos in the lab is expected to help scientists unlock the mysteries of early human development.

But one expert said that any artificial embryos made from human stem cells must be the subject of an “ethical discussion”.

Trying to create a baby from such a technique would be illegal in the UK.

The Cambridge University

“Opens up a new frontier in embryo research”

team led by Professor Magdalena Zernica-Goetz have taken a big step forward by bringing together all three stem cell types that are the basis of a fully formed embryo.

For the first time, the embryo-like structures they created were capable of “gastrulation” – the point at which an embryo divides into three distinct layers that determine the future fate of its cells.

The artificial embryos were observed undergoing gastrulation and organising themselves into the three fundamental body layers.

Prof Zernicka-Goetz pointed out that early stages of embryonic development often held the key to unsuccessful pregnancies but remained little understood.

Dr Christophe Galichet, from the Frances Crick Institute in London, said: “Ethical discussion would need to assess the status of these self-organised embryos if the method described in this paper did work with human stem cells.”