In a recent report, researchers at Harvard Medical School brought up a promising yet eerie prospect

In a recent report, researchers at Harvard Medical School brought up a promising yet eerie prospect in stem cell research– the development of synthetic embryos. Scientists are now able to assemble stem cells that can organize into embryo-like structures, and the day may not be far off when these cells lead to the development of complex human tissues and organs that can resemble those found in adult humans.  Sheefs, which stands for “synthetic human entities with embryo-like features”, exist even today but only as simple assemblies of cells. From The New York Times’ article:But in the future, they may develop into far more complex forms, the researchers said, such as a beating human heart connected to a rudimentary brain, all created from stem cells. Such a Sheef might reveal important clues about how nerves control heartbeats. Scientists might be able to use other Sheefs to test out drugs for diseases such as cancer or diabetes.However, the full potential of this avenue of research may soon push the boundaries of what is currently legally acceptable. A rule that has been in existence since 1979 prohibits lab-raised embryos from being allowed to grow for more than 14 days. Scientists have largely found this to be a reasonable restriction because of how easy it has been to follow—until recently, scientists couldn’t even come close to keeping human embryos alive for even 1 week. But this may soon change.Last year, two teams of scientists determined how to grow human embryos for 13 days. Those advances hinted that it might be possible to allow scientists to tack on a few days more, by changing the 14-day rule to, say, a 20-day rule.To read more about this complex new route of research, read “A New Form of Stem-Cell Engineering Raises Ethical Questions” in The New York Times. -- source link

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