Gay couples may soon be able to have their own biological kids

Human egg cells can now be created from donor blood — a brave new world is upon us.

A false color image of the results of the study. Immature human eggs are shown in pink. (Courtesy of Saitou Lab)
  • Japanese scientists have successfully created immature human egg cells using stem cells.
  • The discovery builds on years of research into the uses of stem cells.
  • While the prospects for new fertility treatments are promising, the ethical questions raised by the procedure will have to be answered.
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bioethics stem cell fertility treatment cloning stem cells

New Research Shows a Way Gay Couples Could Have Children Using Their Own DNA

Scientists conceptualize a potential avenue of creating an embryo with only male cells.

Two men with each holding a baby.

Remember that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Junior where he was pregnant? Though it seemed hilarious and over-the-top at the time, scientists are actually close to making such a thing possible, sort of. Researchers at the University of Bath in the UK have opened up the possibility of an embryo using only male cells. Working with mice, they made a pseudo-embryo called a “parthenogenote.” This was an embryo created without sperm. The feat is performed by fooling an egg cell into thinking it’s been fertilized. Usually, a parthenogenote dies off after a few days. But here, scientists were able to fertilize them with a sperm cell, and inject each embryo into a female mouse.

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Neeta Gerund Tony Perry fertility science University of Bath embryo sperm egg fertility medicine parthenogenote cloning