In this post I list some recent interesting stem cell and science pubs including artificial human embryo research.
Engineered human embryo research continues.
Scientists for years have been advancing the types of embryo-like structures made from both human and other creature’s cells. In a new Nature Cell Bio pub entitled, “A 3D model of a human epiblast reveals BMP4-driven symmetry breaking”, a team led by Eric Siggia pushed this further. See an image from the paper I’ve included that shows signs of the primitive streak and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the embryo-like structures.
They report being able to model a human epiblast of a sort from human embryonic stem cells. From the abstract, “Here, we use human embryonic stem cells to generate an in vitro three-dimensional model of a human epiblast whose size, cell polarity and gene expression are similar to a day 10 human epiblast. A defined dose of BMP4 spontaneously breaks axial symmetry, and induces markers of the primitive streak and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. We show that WNT signalling and its inhibitor DKK1 play key roles in this process downstream of BMP4.”
You can read a couple past posts I did on pubs about artificial embryos here and here.
You can imagine that engineered human embryo research raises ethical issues too. In an NPR piece by Rob Stein, he has this quote on that level:
“It’s very exciting work,” says Insoo Hyun, a bioethicist at the Case Western Reserve University and Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the research. “But it does send folks down the road to thinking very seriously about where the limits may be ethically for this work.”
What do you think of engineering human embryo-like structures?
Here are some other interesting recent pubs and news.
- Direct Reprogramming of Human Neurons Identifies MARCKSL1 as a Pathogenic Mediator of Valproic Acid-Induced Teratogenicity
- Stress-Induced Changes in Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Populations Revealed through Single-Cell Protein Expression Mapping
- A new paper totally hyped in the media related to stem cells for baldness: Tissue engineering of human hair follicles using a biomimetic developmental approach.
- Not stem cell related, but very cool work covered in New York Times by Carl Zimmer, “New Weapons Against Cancer: Millions of Bacteria Programmed to Kill.”
- Taking ‘baby steps’ to human organs in livestock
You’re welcome, Paul. On one side of the coin I can see someone having to freeze their body (part(s)) to “voluntarily” have DNA extracted or some form of compliance from the sole soul who “owns” the DNA. This would be contemplated as low-risk. Yet to have a Woolly Mammoth ‘resurrected’ without said Mammoth’s consent, could lead to many concerns:
Headline 2025 “Woolly Mammoth Runs Amuck on Kremlin with Resurrection Law Suit… Lawyers Representing “Woolly” Say He is Mad and Wants to Go Back to Extinction”
On a similar note I found this article on cnet rather interesting about the viability and responsibility of de-extinction. A lot to think about here: https://www.cnet.com/features/using-crispr-to-resurrect-the-dead/
@Larry,
Thanks for the link. There are a lot of interesting ideas out there with new biotech but they need some contemplation because there’s always risk too.
Paul