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Experiments with human embryos can begin this summer
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Experts from the UK intend to begin experiments on human embryos, for this they need only get permission from the profile committee on fertility.
The group of scientists will be headed by Kathy Nyakan and this will be the first team of specialists outside of China that will be engaged in similar research.
A few months ago, a group of Chinese scientists conducted an experiment to change the human embryo genes with the help of the CRISPR technique, then the specialists wanted to be sure whether this technique could be used in the case of human embryos. Team Cathy Nyakan also plans to apply this technique to monitor the work of genes during the early development of the human body. The aim of this experiment is to reduce the number of spontaneous abortions and develop new methods of treating infertility.
To date, only 50% of the embryos that are created for IVF are suitable for implantation into the female body, while more than half of the embryos do not survive, which causes miscarriages with this method of fertilization.
In the course of the work, Niacan and his colleagues intend to study in more detail the causes of this phenomenon.
In the first week of development of the human embryo, each cell receives a specific purpose - part goes to the development of the placenta, part of the development of the body of the future person, etc. According to biologists, they managed to find genes that are responsible for the distribution of cells and to make sure of this, it is necessary to conduct experiments.
Scientists noted that during the work it is planned to disable genes in one-day embryos, in a week the embryos will be sacrificed, and their structure is analyzed. As a result, scientists will be able to determine whether the deactivation of genes has affected the ability of the organization of cells or there are other mechanisms for the distribution of the role of cells.
The scientists plan to conduct such an experiment with several genes and, according to them, identifying important for the early development of genes will help to better select embryos for IVF, which will help reduce the number of miscarriages.
In addition, this work will allow to develop improved conditions for the initial development of embryos and to identify mutations that can affect the development of the embryo and provoke miscarriage.
Similar experiments have already been conducted with animal embryos, but between rodents and humans, there are still significant differences. In their work, the Niacan team intends to use frozen embryos prepared for IVF, which were voluntarily transferred to science by parents. To study the effect of one gene, up to 30 embryos may be needed, according to preliminary estimates for the entire experiment, about 120 embryos may be required.
The team of British experts hopes that the committee will approve the experiments in the very near future and in the case of "green light" specialists will start working this summer.
In December last year, the academic community discussed the shortcomings and advantages of the methodology for changing human genes. Scientists suggest that in the future such experiments can lead to the creation of "customized children", i.e. When parents can choose the color of eyes, hair, etc. As a result, scientists refused to experiment with human embryos in order not to provoke such a development of events.
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