In what is being called “a breakthrough” and “a monumental achievement,” a team of scientists at the Weitzman Institute of Science — led by Dr. Jacob Hanna — has successfully grown more than 1,000 mouse embryos in artificial wombs. The project to create the artificial wombs has been in the works for seven years. Obviously, the experiment raises some profound ethical concerns, especially with regard to the possibility of applying the technology to human fetuses. On the other hand, it could hold great promise for someday better understanding the process of gestation in mammals, repairing genetic defects before birth, and even helping extremely premature babies to survive.
Quote: “The artificial womb may allow researchers to learn more about why pregnancies end in miscarriages or why fertilized eggs fail to implant. It opens a new window onto how gene mutations or deletions affect fetal development…. The work is “a breakthrough,” said Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, professor of biology and biological engineering at Caltech. It “opens the door to a new age of studying development in the experimental mouse model.”
Source: The New York Times
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Photo: Dr. Jacob Hanna, et, al./Weitzman Institute of Science/YoutTube/Screenshot
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