In this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly, as new scientific guidelines are released on embryo research and the use of stem cells, we talk to experts about what’s changed – including a recommendation to relax the 14-day time limit for human embryo research. And we hear about a wave of romantic comedy films emerging from South Africa that are re-imagining the city of Johannesburg.
It’s been five years since the last set of guidelines from the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) were published. Since then, scientists have made significant developments in stem cell and embryo research – including the creation of human embryo models and the first human-monkey embryos.
It will be blinded, so volunteer patients won t know which injection they will receive.
The study is being funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and will be one of the world s largest clinical trials to use stem cells for osteoarthritis.
Trial participants will receive an off-the-shelf product manufactured by an Australian company called Cynata Therapeutics.
Most experimental interventions use stem cells extracted from a patient s own fat tissue.
The new trial therapy uses stem cells from the blood of a single healthy donor, which is then expanded and reproduced to commercial scale. Every patient (in the treatment group) is going to receive the same thing, taking one of the uncertainties out of the picture, Professor Megan Munsie, deputy director of Melbourne University s Centre for Stem Cell Systems, said.
As Scientists Move Closer To Making Part Human, Part Animal Organisms, What Are The Concerns?
Share
Published 4 hours ago:
April 20, 2021 at 4:00 pm
To sign up for our daily newsletter covering the latest news, features and reviews, head HERE. For a running feed of all our stories, follow us on Twitter HERE. Or you can bookmark the Gizmodo Australia homepage to visit whenever you need a news fix.
The recent announcement that scientists have made human-monkey embryos and cultured them in the lab for two weeks made international headlines.
The technology to make animals that contain cells from other species has been available for decades and used extensively in research. These organisms are called “chimeras”.
Science and blastocysts - Cosmos Magazine cosmosmagazine.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cosmosmagazine.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.