First Human Eggs Grown In Laboratory (bbc.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Human eggs have been grown in the laboratory for the first time, say researchers at the University of Edinburgh. The team say the technique could lead to new ways of preserving the fertility of children having cancer treatment. It is also an opportunity to explore how human eggs develop, much of which remains a mystery to science. Experts said it was an exciting breakthrough, but more work was needed before it could be used clinically. Women are born with immature eggs in their ovaries that can develop fully only after puberty. It has taken decades of work, but scientists can now grow eggs to maturity outside of the ovary. It requires carefully controlling laboratory conditions including oxygen levels, hormones, proteins that simulate growth and the medium in which the eggs are cultured. But while the scientists have shown it is possible, the approach published in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction still needs refinement. In the paper, the researchers describe "how they took ovarian tissue from 10 women in their late twenties and thirties and, over four steps involving different cocktails of nutrients, encouraged the eggs to develop from their earliest form to maturity," reports The Guardian. "Of the 48 eggs that reached the penultimate step of the process, nine reached full maturity."

Comments

Troll posts

[TheReaperD]

What the hell is up with all the idiotic troll posts on this article? Who moved the rock?

But it still requires ovaries.

[dgatwood]

That's pretty cool. The one unfortunate thing is that it still requires you to start out with viable eggs, albeit undeveloped viable eggs, which won't help anyone who has already undergone those sorts of medical treatments.

On the other hand, when we eventually do manage to grow eggs from normal cells, the medical ethics questions will get pretty crazy:

• Should there be an upper age limit to prevent high rates of genetic defects?
• Should it be illegal to create a baby with an unknowing girl by stealing a strand of her hair?
• When it eventually happens anyway, what legal rights will the child have?
• If you are asked to construct eggs from XY cells from someone who has undergone a gender change, are you ethically required to tell her husband?
• When shaking the hand of your date, is it appropriate to wear a glove to prevent conception?

And so on.

As is often the case, I can't entirely tell if I'm joking or being serious with this comment. Moderate appropriately. :-D