Scientists create first artificial mouse 'embryo' from stem cells

LONDON – Scientists in Britain have for the first time created a structure that resembles a mouse embryo using a 3D scaffold and two types of stem cells -- research that deepens understanding of the earliest stages of mammalian development. Publishing their results in the journal Science on Thursday, the team, based at Cambridge University, said that while the artificial embryo closely resembled the real thing, it would be unlikely to develop further into a healthy mouse fetus. For research purposes, however, the scientists were able to show how the artificial embryo followed the same pattern of development as a normal embryo -- with the stem cells organizing themselves in the same way. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, a professor at Cambridge's department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience who led the work, said the success with mouse cells should pave the way for similar work with human cells, helping scientists overcome a major barrier to human embryo research -- a shortage of embryos. Currently, human embryos for research are developed from surplus eggs donated through fertility clinics, but Zernicka-Goetz said it should in the future be possible to use the stem cells and scaffold technique to make artificial human embryos for study.