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Using only skin cells, Israeli lab makes synthetic mouse embryos with beating hearts
The Times of Israel ^ | August 1, 2022 | NATHAN JEFFAY

Posted on 08/02/2022 1:38:30 PM PDT by gitmo

In peer-reviewed breakthrough, embryos grown from stem cells; diverse group of scientists says method may one day be used to ethically grow cells for replacement human organs

An Israeli lab has grown synthetic mouse embryos with brains and beating hearts — in an egg-free sperm-free procedure that used stem cells taken from skin.

The breakthrough, published on Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Cell, represents the first time that an advanced embryo of any species has been created from stem cells alone, cell biologist Prof. Jacob Hanna of the Weizmann Institute of Science told The Times of Israel.

Hanna, whose team of researchers includes Jewish and Arab Israelis as well as a Palestinian doctoral student, said that previous attempts had led only to blastocysts, meaning the structures formed in the early development of mammals. Blastocysts have a tiny fraction of the million-plus cells that are in his embryos.

“It’s remarkable,” he commented. “There was no sperm, no egg and no uterus, but we managed to get embryos formed from stem cells alone to eight days — a third of the gestation period of a mouse — with a beating heart.”

He said that the research could one day be used to grow artificial human embryo-like structures to generate cells for futuristic medical solutions.

Hanna said synthetic embryo-like structures could be viewed very differently. They are similar to regular embryos, but are not viable for implantation.

He foresees a day when sick patients may give skin or blood cells for the growth of artificial embryo-like structures, which could in turn yield the cells needed to grow organs.

The key to Hanna’s achievement is a special incubator system in which each embryo is in a bottle with liquid, and the bottle is spinning to ensure it does not attach to the side. The incubator creates all the necessary conditions for the embryo’s development, including gas concentration, pressure and temperature. The liquid — developed in his lab — gives the embryos all the nutrients, hormones, and sugars they need.

In March 2021, Hanna’s lab used the incubator to grow 250-cell embryos into mouse fetuses with fully formed organs using artificial wombs. “The difference between that research and what we achieved now is where the embryos come from,” Hanna explained. “In the previous study, they were natural embryos that came from mice and originated as eggs fertilized by sperm. Now, the embryos are made purely from stem cells.”

He added: “We were asking at the time of the previous study what would happen if we took just stem cells and put them in this machine. Now we know the answer — embryos with early-form organs, including an early brain, a beating heart, blood stem cells. They even mimic the whole embryo, and the tissues around it include the placenta and the yolk sack.”

“Nobody has made advanced embryos from stem cells, ever, so this is significant. This will both advance understanding of stem cells and organs in mammals, and is likely to have practical significance in the future.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Israel
KEYWORDS: embryo
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Creating animals from scratch.
1 posted on 08/02/2022 1:38:30 PM PDT by gitmo
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To: gitmo

A tad disturbing.


2 posted on 08/02/2022 1:50:01 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: gitmo
For some reason this made me think of the nose-cloning scene from Sleeper.


3 posted on 08/02/2022 1:51:31 PM PDT by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: gitmo

And just like that endangered species are a thing of the past.


4 posted on 08/02/2022 1:52:02 PM PDT by JonPreston
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To: gitmo
An Israeli lab has grown synthetic mouse embryos with brains and beating hearts — in an egg-free sperm-free procedure that used stem cells taken from skin.

Creating animals from scratch.

Not really, because the cells used have the DNA of the person they came from.

This is why I think DNA should be used in Pro-life arguments because a unique human being with unique DNA is created at fertilization. Well, except identical twins also have identical DNA. There's something else, we just haven't found it yet.

5 posted on 08/02/2022 1:54:21 PM PDT by libertylover (Our biggest problem, BY FAR, is that almost all of big media is agenda-driven, not-truth driven.)
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To: gitmo

I saw the Documentary. Logan 5 was the good guy.


6 posted on 08/02/2022 1:55:48 PM PDT by D Rider ( )
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To: gitmo

Israel is ahead in the Cultured Meat scene too.


7 posted on 08/02/2022 1:57:05 PM PDT by Pollard (If there's a question mark in the headline, the answer should always be No.)
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To: gitmo

It cheapens life. We really shouldn’t cross this line.


8 posted on 08/02/2022 2:00:24 PM PDT by Irenic
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To: Irenic

9 posted on 08/02/2022 2:05:39 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Irenic

So true.


10 posted on 08/02/2022 2:10:42 PM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear
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To: Irenic

Life is cheap already in overcrowded countries like china and India and others. Population density in India is 14 times that of USA.


11 posted on 08/02/2022 2:14:39 PM PDT by entropy12 (Trump pp& MAGA are the only way to keep USA viable.)
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To: Pollard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Meat_Technologies

Future Meat Technologies was founded in 2018 by Yaakov Nahmias, a biomedical engineering professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[1] He became Future Meat’s chief scientific officer.[1]

The company extracts cells from live animals. It cultures those cells in stainless steel fermenters, where they reproduce and develop into edible tissues. The company claims that reproduction rates are 10x greater than others, while generating 20% of their greenhouse gas emissions. Compared to animal husbandry, it uses 1% of the land and 4% of the water. In 2021, it reduced the cost of a cultured chicken breast from US$7.50 to $1.70.[7]


12 posted on 08/02/2022 2:15:55 PM PDT by Pollard (If there's a question mark in the headline, the answer should always be No.)
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To: Pollard

Now that is “Frankenfood”.


13 posted on 08/02/2022 2:16:54 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: BenLurkin

When I hear this, I think of “Pet Sematary”. “Living” beings but without souls. Creepy.


14 posted on 08/02/2022 2:20:32 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (Sometimes when you get to where you're supposed to be, it's too soon.)
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To: gitmo

Tremendous compliments to the great scientific technicians. But I find this upsetting nonetheless.


15 posted on 08/02/2022 2:23:26 PM PDT by faithhopecharity (“Politicians are not born. They're excreted.” Marcus Tillius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: dfwgator
CRISPR Cas9 Gene-Edited tomato plant. They deleted the gene for vertical growth, ironically enough, to fit indoor Vertical Farming systems which tend to be geared towards salad greens and lettuce at the moment. The indoor vertical farms' veggies never see the sun. It's all LED grow lights. There's more of them than people might think. When you buy salad greens mixes at Krogers, Walmart, Amazon Fresh, there's a good chance it's grown indoors and that the plants were gene-edited plants.

They're also working on gene-edited livestock. Polled/hornless cattle, pigs that don't get a common pig disease, egg laying hens who produce a terminator gene for male embryos.

Even the things that might be totally safe and healthy will have one thing in common. They'll be patented by the techies who are all leftist globalists.

16 posted on 08/02/2022 2:39:27 PM PDT by Pollard (If there's a question mark in the headline, the answer should always be No.)
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To: Pollard

“ In 2021, it reduced the cost of a cultured chicken breast from US$7.50 to $1.70.“

_______________

That must be where Walmart sources their chicken breasts, they’re cheap, large and have a strange spongey texture.


17 posted on 08/02/2022 2:39:32 PM PDT by jacknhoo ( Luke 12:51; Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: gitmo

Evil Mengele crap like this is where covid came from.


18 posted on 08/02/2022 2:40:46 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
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To: Pollard

They aren’t smart enough to do such modifications without unpredictable side effect risks.


19 posted on 08/02/2022 2:42:03 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
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To: Pollard

“Israel is ahead in the Cultured Meat scene too.”

Utterly depraved.


20 posted on 08/02/2022 2:43:05 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
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