World first ever synthetic human embryo has been created out of stem cells.

“The idea is that if you really model normal human embryonic development using stem cells, you can gain an awful lot of information about how we begin development,” Robin Lovell-Badge, the head of stem cell biology and developmental genetics at the Francis Crick Institute in London, said.

The embryos lack a functioning heart or early signs of a brain, but they do contain cells that would normally develop into the placenta, yolk sac, and the embryo itself.

Scientists are saying that these embryo models, which resemble the earliest stages of human development, could give us important insights into genetic disorders and the reasons behind repeated miscarriages.

Unfortunately this experimentation raises major ethical and legal concerns because the lab-grown entities are not covered by existing laws in the UK and many other countries.

The embryos will not be used clinically any time soon, for it’s illegal to implant them in a patient’s womb.

There also hasn’t been much investigations and experimentations beyond the earliest stages of development.

“Our human model is the first three-lineage human embryo model that specifies amnion and germ cells, precursor cells of egg and sperm. It’s beautiful and created entirely from embryonic stem cells,” Żernicka-Goetz told the Guardian newspaper.

This progress shows that scientific advancements in this area have advanced faster than the laws in place.

In April, scientists in China produced synthetic embryos using cells from monkeys and then placed them inside an adult monkeys’ wombs. Some of the monkeys displayed early signs of pregnancy, but none of them progressed beyond a few days of development.

Researchers are uncertain whether the limitation in further advancement is solely due to technical challenges or if there’s a deeper underlying biological reason.

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