Scientists have created synthetic human embryos using stem cells – a move experts say could provide insight into causes of miscarriages and unique aspects of human development but raises ethical and legal questions.
Prof Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, from the University of Cambridge and California Institute of Technology, described fostering the embryos to a stage just beyond the equivalent of 14 days of development for a natural embryo at the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s annual meeting in Boston on Wednesday, The Guardian reported.
According to the newspaper, the structures do not require eggs or sperm, do not have a beating heart or beginnings of a brain but contain cells that would typically develop to form the placenta, yolk sac and the embryo itself.
