Have we reached the reproductive frontier of lab-grown sperm?
Producing oocytes in the lab has always been thought to be the initial focus in this arena. It was thought that figuring out the way to maked lab-grown sperm would take longer.
Now a new report suggests both sperm and eggs can be made by in vitro gametogenesis or IVG.
Lab-grown sperm
A Startup Says It Grew Human Sperm in a Lab—and Used It to Make Embryos, WIRED. Paterna Biosciences says it can make sperm from stem cells. This is a different kind of IVG in the sense that it reportedly uses sperm stem cells, not iPS cells. From WIRED, “There are very strict control mechanisms at every single one of those steps,” says Alexander Pastuszak, CEO and cofounder of Paterna, who is also a board-certified urologist and an associate professor of surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine. “We’ve figured out the instructions that are needed to teach these stem cells to become mature, normal sperm.”
So, in theory, we could be much closer to stem cell IVF, where producing human embryos from research or even for reproduction is based partially or entirely on stem cells. One main idea here is to help men facing infertility. Lab-grown sperm could also advance research. Either way but especially for possible future infertility treatments, cost is going to be a big factor.
Doubts on EMF magnetogenetics Cell paper
Doubts cast over ‘wild’ claim that magnetic control can turn on genes Researchers in South Korea say they have made a major advance by turning on genes with an electromagnetic signal, but critics say the claims are implausible and the paper is flawed, New Scientist. Some issues have already arisen on PubPeer, and the authors have confirmed certain images were flipped by accident.
More recommended reads
- San Diego man feels misled after buying ‘stem cell’ pills, NBC-7. So many supposed stem cell supplements are not actually stem cell-related.
- Intranasal Human NSC-Derived EVs Therapy Can Restrain Inflammatory Microglial Transcriptome, and NLRP3 and cGAS-STING Signalling, in Aged Hippocampus, J. of EVs.I’ve written before about useful but also unsettling it is that things can readily go from the nasal passages into the brain. Intranasal delivery of stem cells has become “a thing” at unproven stem cell clinics, which seems highly dangerous.
- Doubts on whether so-called Blue Zones are real and highlighting for-profit efforts around the term: Are blue zones real? STAT News. Like the authors, I’m starting to have doubts on so-called blue zones. If many existed, have they faded away?
Makary may be fired…or not
- President Trump’s Marty Makary Problem, WSJ. Now that Vinay Prasad is gone, the WSJ doesn’t have him to hammer anymore. So, now they are turning their magnifying glass on Commissioner Marty Makary? As I’ve said before, whoever takes the lead on the CBER branch next is either going to be a total yes person or they won’t last long. The paper then reported that Makary would be fired. Now, that seems less clear, but other outlets said the same kind of thing like the following from the NYT.
- Trump Plans to Fire F.D.A. Commissioner Marty Makary. If this does happen, it’ll be striking that reportedly a combination of a conflict over Trump favoring flavored vapes and the WSJ wanting Makary to be more flexible triggered the decision. Again, newer reports are less certain that the firing is imminent.
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