A new breakthrough could make it possible to raise human babies from scratch in a laboratory in just five years.
Researchers in Japan are close to being able to create human eggs and sperm from scratch in the lab, which would then develop in an artificial womb.
Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi, a Japanese scientist at Kyushu University who has already discovered the process in mice, believes he is only five years away from replicating the results in humans.
However, there are ethical concerns as women of all ages could have children. Parents may also want their offspring to have certain traits using gene editing tools to make way for the notion of a supposedly perfect child.
Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi of Kyushu University (pictured), a Japanese scientist who has already figured out how to perform IVG in mice, estimated it would take five years to produce egg-like cells from humans
dr Hayashi and his team recently created seven mice with two male birth parents by using skin cells from a male mouse to create a viable egg and then fertilize it.
The ability to create custom-made human sperm and oocytes in the laboratory is called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG).
It involves taking cells from a person’s blood or skin and reprogramming them to become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells).
In theory, these cells can become any cell in the body, including egg and sperm cells.
Embryos could then be made from them and implanted in the uterus of women.
Scientists have managed to create very simple human eggs and sperm in this way, but they have not yet been able to create embryos.
dr Hayashi estimated that it would take five years to produce human egg-like cells and another 10 to 20 years of testing before doctors believe the technique is safe to use in clinics.
Stanford University professor Henry Greely told Freethink he estimated it would take researchers another five to 10 years to achieve a reliable proof of concept, plus a decade or two for security testing.
Jeanne Loring, a researcher at the Scripps Research Institute, told The New York Times in 2017, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if it was five years, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 25 years.’
This would mean that scientists could, for example, use one of their blood cells to create sperm and egg cells for infertile people.
About one in 10 couples in the US are struggling to conceive — and some of those are same-sex couples or hopeful single parents who rely on donated sperm or eggs, IVF, and in some cases surrogate mothers.
But there are still many ethical, legal and security issues surrounding IVG.
Some ethicists fear that closing the door on infertility could quickly open the door to designer babies, eugenics, and legal problems that our society may not be prepared to solve.
It could allow people to use a strand of hair to steal someone’s DNA and make babies without their consent.
In 2016, Japanese researchers created stem cells from eight-week-old mice, selecting those that had lost a Y chromosome for some reason.
Scientists then manipulated the cells to copy the remaining X chromosome, creating a cell with two X genes – what would normally be called a female cell.
“The biggest trick here is the duplication of the X chromosome,” said Dr. Hayashi.
They turned these cells into eggs and used sperm from male mice to fertilize them in the lab.
The process resulted in the birth of more than half a dozen healthy mouse pups.
dr Hayashi told New Scientist he believes the door is now open for children from two fathers.
The aim is to reproduce the same process with human cells.
“In purely technological terms, it will be possible.” [in humans] even in 10 years,” he told the Guardian.
“I don’t know if they will be available for reproduction.”
“This is not only a question for the scientific program, but also for [society].’