CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM — UK scientists have successfully grown a mouse embryo in the lab using only stem cells, which indicates this procedure could be eventually applied to growing artificial human embryos. <br /> <br />Researchers at the University of Cambridge extracted the embryonic stem cells and the extra-embryonic trophoblast stem cells, which will form the placenta, from a mouse. The two types of cells were then mixed, placed on a 3D scaffold and grown in a tank of chemicals that mimics the conditions inside the womb. The cells were able to grow and formed a structure that very closely resembled a natural mouse embryo after 96 hours. <br /> <br />In a press release, Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz from the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, said, “We think that it will be possible to mimic a lot of the developmental events occurring before 14 days using human embryonic and extra-embryonic stem cells using a similar approach to our technique using mouse stem cells.” <br /> <br />Zernicka-Goetz led the research program.
