Posted on Sep 28, 2023
Japanese scientists race to create human eggs and sperm in the lab
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/28/ [login to see] /japanese-scientists-race-to-create-human-eggs-and-sperm-in-the-lab
Katsuhiko Hayashi pulls a clear plastic dish from an incubator and slides it under a microscope.
"You really want to see the actual cells, right?" Hayashi asks as he motions toward the microscope.
Hayashi, a developmental geneticist at Osaka University in Japan, is a pioneer in one of the most exciting — and controversial — fields of biomedical research: in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG.
The goal of IVG is to make unlimited supplies of what Hayashi calls "artificial" eggs and sperm from any cell in the human body. That could let anyone — older, infertile, single, gay, trans — have their own genetically related babies. Besides the technical challenges that remain to be overcome, there are deep ethical concerns about how IVG might eventually be used.
Katsuhiko Hayashi pulls a clear plastic dish from an incubator and slides it under a microscope.
"You really want to see the actual cells, right?" Hayashi asks as he motions toward the microscope.
Hayashi, a developmental geneticist at Osaka University in Japan, is a pioneer in one of the most exciting — and controversial — fields of biomedical research: in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG.
The goal of IVG is to make unlimited supplies of what Hayashi calls "artificial" eggs and sperm from any cell in the human body. That could let anyone — older, infertile, single, gay, trans — have their own genetically related babies. Besides the technical challenges that remain to be overcome, there are deep ethical concerns about how IVG might eventually be used.
Japanese scientists race to create human eggs and sperm in the lab
Posted from npr.org
Japan
Science
College
Research
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Ian Malcolm gives Hammond an ethics lecture
this is the lunch scene from Jurassic Park in which Jeff Goldblum's character voices his objections to what the parks genetic engineers are doing as well as ...
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"there are deep ethical concerns about how IVG might eventually be used."
Yeah, the last thing we need is a bunch more Kardashians running around!
Yeah, the last thing we need is a bunch more Kardashians running around!
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No doubt the technical capacity to do this exists or will, the ethical capacity is better left to a culture with different ethics than the US -- seems very "Unit 736" to me
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