Scientists Double Life Expectancy of Embryos in Labs, Raising Concerns

Scientists from the U.K. and U.S have now developed a new technique that enables a human embryo to live outside the womb far longer than before. However, any future experiments are sure to be fraught with ethical issues.

For the first time ever, researchers have grown human embryos outside of the uterus for 13 days, which is a significant improvement from the previous record of nine days. This development would give us a better understanding into the little understood stages of human ontogenesis.

This accomplishment, however, has put research that involves in vitro human embryos on a “collision course” with international regulations that has a 14-day limit on laboratory studies of embryos.

For decades now, scientists have been able to make and study human embryos in their labs; however, keeping them alive outside a woman’s womb for more than about a week has proven difficult — until now.

The two leading labs created a chemical environment in which the embryo is tricked into thinking it is in a womb while it remained in a petri dish.

The embryos thrived until day 13, and then the scientists were forced to terminate to avoid breaching the international regulations, as both the U.S. and the U.K. forbid scientific experiments on human fetuses over two weeks old.

Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, a developmental biologist at the University of Cambridge, and who led the U.K. team, said in a statement:

“This new technique provides us with a unique opportunity to get a deeper understanding of our own development during these crucial stages and help us understand what happens, for example, during miscarriage.

“Implantation is a milestone in human development as it is from this stage onward that the embryo really begins to take shape and the overall body plans are decided. It is also the stage of pregnancy at which many developmental defects can become acquired. But until now, it has been impossible to study this in human embryos.”

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