https://news.sky.com/story/uks-first-th ... e-12877298Wednesday 10 May 2023 12:58, UK
The first baby created from three genetic parents has been born in the UK.
To prevent inherited disease doctors created a "three-parent baby" by using a technique known as mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT).
The procedure, aimed at stopping a mother from passing on defective genes in the mitochondria - tiny power plants in cells that supply energy - to her child, involves giving a woman an IVF baby with DNA from three individuals.
Nuclear DNA was given to the child from the mother and father, which define key characteristics such as personality and eye colour.
They were also given a tiny amount of mitochondrial DNA provided by the "third parent".
Artificial wombs, cloning, IVF, and other reproductive technology
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Time_Traveller
- Posts: 2234
- Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:49 pm
- Location: San Francisco, USA, June 7th 1929 C.E
Re: Artificial wombs, cloning, IVF, and other reproductive technology
UK's first 'three-parent baby' born after IVF procedure
"We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams."
-H.G Wells.
-H.G Wells.
Re: Artificial wombs, cloning, IVF, and other reproductive technology
Synthetic human embryos created in groundbreaking advance
Wed 14 Jun 2023 19.31 BST
Scientists have created synthetic human embryos using stem cells, in a groundbreaking advance that sidesteps the need for eggs or sperm.
Scientists say these model embryos, which resemble those in the earliest stages of human development, could provide a crucial window on the impact of genetic disorders and the biological causes of recurrent miscarriage.
However, the work also raises serious ethical and legal issues as the lab-grown entities fall outside current legislation in the UK and most other countries.
The structures do not have a beating heart or the beginnings of a brain, but include cells that would typically go on to form the placenta, yolk sac and the embryo itself.
Prof Magdalena Żernicka-Goetz, of the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology, described the work in a plenary address on Wednesday at the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s annual meeting in Boston.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... ng-advance
Wed 14 Jun 2023 19.31 BST
Scientists have created synthetic human embryos using stem cells, in a groundbreaking advance that sidesteps the need for eggs or sperm.
Scientists say these model embryos, which resemble those in the earliest stages of human development, could provide a crucial window on the impact of genetic disorders and the biological causes of recurrent miscarriage.
However, the work also raises serious ethical and legal issues as the lab-grown entities fall outside current legislation in the UK and most other countries.
The structures do not have a beating heart or the beginnings of a brain, but include cells that would typically go on to form the placenta, yolk sac and the embryo itself.
Prof Magdalena Żernicka-Goetz, of the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology, described the work in a plenary address on Wednesday at the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s annual meeting in Boston.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... ng-advance
Re: Artificial wombs, cloning, IVF, and other reproductive technology
Model embryo with heartbeat replicates cells in early pregnancy
Sun 18 Jun 2023 16.00 BST
Scientists have created a model human embryo with a heartbeat and traces of blood in an advance that offers an extraordinary window into the first weeks of life.
The synthetic structure, created from human stem cells without the need for eggs, sperm or fertilisation, replicated some of the cells and structures that would typically appear in the third and fourth week of pregnancy. But it was specifically designed to lack the tissues that go on to form the placenta and yolk sac in a natural embryo, meaning that it did not have the theoretical potential of developing into a foetus.
Despite the resonance of a heartbeat, this safeguard makes the experiments ethically uncontroversial, the team behind the work argue – a view supported by international guidelines.
“I’d like to emphasise that these are neither embryos nor are we trying to make embryos actually,” Dr Jitesh Neupane, of the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute, told the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s annual meeting in Boston on Saturday. “They are just models that could be used to look into specific aspects of human development.”
[...]
The work highlights the astonishing pace of progress and fierce rivalry in the field. Days before Neupane’s work was revealed, Prof Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz unveiled a groundbreaking human embryo model that mirrored features seen at about 14 days, the legal cutoff for cultivating natural embryos in the lab. Within a day, three international competitors had posted their own preprint papers online in response.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... -pregnancy
Sun 18 Jun 2023 16.00 BST
Scientists have created a model human embryo with a heartbeat and traces of blood in an advance that offers an extraordinary window into the first weeks of life.
The synthetic structure, created from human stem cells without the need for eggs, sperm or fertilisation, replicated some of the cells and structures that would typically appear in the third and fourth week of pregnancy. But it was specifically designed to lack the tissues that go on to form the placenta and yolk sac in a natural embryo, meaning that it did not have the theoretical potential of developing into a foetus.
Despite the resonance of a heartbeat, this safeguard makes the experiments ethically uncontroversial, the team behind the work argue – a view supported by international guidelines.
“I’d like to emphasise that these are neither embryos nor are we trying to make embryos actually,” Dr Jitesh Neupane, of the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute, told the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s annual meeting in Boston on Saturday. “They are just models that could be used to look into specific aspects of human development.”
[...]
The work highlights the astonishing pace of progress and fierce rivalry in the field. Days before Neupane’s work was revealed, Prof Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz unveiled a groundbreaking human embryo model that mirrored features seen at about 14 days, the legal cutoff for cultivating natural embryos in the lab. Within a day, three international competitors had posted their own preprint papers online in response.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... -pregnancy
Re: Artificial wombs, cloning, IVF, and other reproductive technology
US approves first over-the-counter birth control pill
19 hours ago
The US government has approved the first-ever over-the-counter birth control pill.
The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday birth control pill Opill will be available without a prescription for women of all ages.
In a statement, the agency said the move would help reduce women's barriers to accessing contraception.
The manufacturer of Opill has said it will most likely be available over the counter in early 2024.
Doctors say that the progestin-only pill - often known as the "minipill" - is a particularly safe form of contraception because it does not contain oestrogen, meaning it has fewer side effects and health risks.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66191585
Credit: PERRIGO
19 hours ago
The US government has approved the first-ever over-the-counter birth control pill.
The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday birth control pill Opill will be available without a prescription for women of all ages.
In a statement, the agency said the move would help reduce women's barriers to accessing contraception.
The manufacturer of Opill has said it will most likely be available over the counter in early 2024.
Doctors say that the progestin-only pill - often known as the "minipill" - is a particularly safe form of contraception because it does not contain oestrogen, meaning it has fewer side effects and health risks.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66191585
Credit: PERRIGO
Re: Artificial wombs, cloning, IVF, and other reproductive technology
Scientists grow whole model of human embryo, without sperm or egg
26 minutes ago
Scientists have grown an entity that closely resembles an early human embryo, without using sperm, eggs or a womb.
The Weizmann Institute team say their "embryo model", made using stem cells, looks like a textbook example of a real 14-day-old embryo.
It even released hormones that turned a pregnancy test positive in the lab.
The ambition for embryo models is to provide an ethical way of understanding the earliest moments of our lives.
The first weeks after a sperm fertilises an egg is a period of dramatic change - from a collection of indistinct cells to something that eventually becomes recognisable on a baby scan.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66715669
26 minutes ago
Scientists have grown an entity that closely resembles an early human embryo, without using sperm, eggs or a womb.
The Weizmann Institute team say their "embryo model", made using stem cells, looks like a textbook example of a real 14-day-old embryo.
It even released hormones that turned a pregnancy test positive in the lab.
The ambition for embryo models is to provide an ethical way of understanding the earliest moments of our lives.
The first weeks after a sperm fertilises an egg is a period of dramatic change - from a collection of indistinct cells to something that eventually becomes recognisable on a baby scan.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66715669
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weatheriscool
- Posts: 13586
- Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm
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weatheriscool
- Posts: 13586
- Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm
Re: Artificial wombs, cloning, IVF, and other reproductive technology
Brain cell discovery sparks hope for fertility treatments
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12- ... ments.html
by Nagoya University
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12- ... ments.html
by Nagoya University
Researchers at Nagoya University's Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences and the National Institute of Physiological Sciences in Japan have demonstrated how a specific type of neuron in the brain affects the release of hormones that control ovarian function, such as follicular development and ovulation in females. These findings, published in Scientific Reports, could help researchers understand and treat reproductive disorders in animals and humans.
Kisspeptin neurons in the brain regulate the release of hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone/luteinizing hormone (LH). This process is important for reproduction, as pituitary hormones stimulate the ovaries to perform their reproductive functions. Examples include follicular development and ovulation in all mammals, including humans.
There are two main areas of the brain involved in the process: the arcuate nucleus (ARC), in which kisspeptin neurons maintain the regular rhythmic (pulsatile) secretion of GnRH/LH that maintains normal follicular development and sex steroid production, and the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV), in which kisspeptin neurons trigger a surge of GnRH/LH that leads to ovulation.
The researchers focused on the fact that kisspeptin neurons in the ARC produce and respond to dynorphin, an inhibitory substance.
"Kisspeptin neurons in the ARC express both dynorphin and its receptor, whereas those in the AVPV express the receptor only, suggesting a particular role of such kisspeptin neurons in fertilization," Mayuko Nagae, a postdoctoral fellow, and Yoshihisa Uenoyama, an associate professor at Nagoya University in Japan and corresponding author of the paper, say.
"However, the exact role of dynorphin and its receptor in the regulation of kisspeptin neurons was not clearly understood."
Re: Artificial wombs, cloning, IVF, and other reproductive technology
Premature babies could be treated with an artificial uterus in 2024
Premature lambs continued developing when placed in a sac-like artificial uterus. Off the back of this, US officials are hinting that the first in-human trial could soon be underway
27 December 2023
The groundwork is being laid for the first human trial of an artificial uterus, which could get the go-ahead from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) some time in 2024.
Artificial uteruses are designed to mimic the environment of the womb as closely as possible and may help support babies who are born extremely prematurely, at around 23 or 24 weeks’ gestation.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... s-in-2024/
The EXTEND system has kept more than 300 preterm lambs alive
Credit: Partridge, E., Davey, M., Hornick, M. et al. (2023)
Premature lambs continued developing when placed in a sac-like artificial uterus. Off the back of this, US officials are hinting that the first in-human trial could soon be underway
27 December 2023
The groundwork is being laid for the first human trial of an artificial uterus, which could get the go-ahead from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) some time in 2024.
Artificial uteruses are designed to mimic the environment of the womb as closely as possible and may help support babies who are born extremely prematurely, at around 23 or 24 weeks’ gestation.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... s-in-2024/
The EXTEND system has kept more than 300 preterm lambs alive
Credit: Partridge, E., Davey, M., Hornick, M. et al. (2023)
Re: Artificial wombs, cloning, IVF, and other reproductive technology
Cloned rhesus monkey created to speed medical research
1 hour ago
Chinese researchers have cloned the first rhesus monkey, a species which is widely used in medical research because its physiology is similar to humans.
They say they could speed up drug testing, as genetically identical animals give like-for-like results, providing greater certainty in trials.
Previous attempts to clone a rhesus have either not led to births or the offspring have died a few hours later.
One animal welfare group has said it is "deeply concerned" by the development.
In mammals, sexual reproduction leads to offspring made up of a mixture of genes from their father and mother. In cloning, techniques are used to create a genetically identical copy of a single animal.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67987633
1 hour ago
Chinese researchers have cloned the first rhesus monkey, a species which is widely used in medical research because its physiology is similar to humans.
They say they could speed up drug testing, as genetically identical animals give like-for-like results, providing greater certainty in trials.
Previous attempts to clone a rhesus have either not led to births or the offspring have died a few hours later.
One animal welfare group has said it is "deeply concerned" by the development.
In mammals, sexual reproduction leads to offspring made up of a mixture of genes from their father and mother. In cloning, techniques are used to create a genetically identical copy of a single animal.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67987633
