In world first, artificial mouse 'embryos' were grown without the need for a womb, sperm, or egg

Scientists were able to grow "synthetic embryos" from mice cells.

The process was described in a peer reviewed journal.

Jacob Hanna of Weizmann's Molecular Genetics Department said in a statement that the technology could be used to grow organs.

More research is needed before a human embryo can be grown this way.

They said that the research makes this possibility a little more doable.

Courtesy of the Weizmann Institute of Science

Cracking the synthetic embryo code

The embryo is the best machine for making organs and 3D bioprinters.

The group had previously grown mouse embryos in glass containers.

The embryo were fertilized from real mice. Stem cells were used to grow the embryo.

Cells learn from the signals sent to them by the body.

Stem cells can be turned into fake organs for research, like mini-brains used to test drugs.

Early in the process, most of the synthetic embryo died. Half of the time for a mouse is spent growing.

According to the study, at that point, they were almost identical to normal mouse embryos and had begun to grow.

According to The Guardian, these are not real embryo's. They weren't able to grow to term when they were put in a mouse uterus.

Courtesy of the Weizmann Institute of Science

Growing organs from synthetic embryos

It's easier to scale the process and make lots of them at the same time because these synthetic embryos are made from stem cells.

It could make a huge amount of synthetic embryos available for research.

If these cells can be prodded into making the beginning of organs, it would be possible to transplant them into humans without needing donors.

The next challenge is to understand how stem cells find their way into an embryo.

Courtesy of the Weizmann Institute of Science

Still a long way from synthetic human embryos

The research raises ethical questions according to a group leader at the Francis Crick Institute.

He said that now is a good time to consider the best legal and ethical framework to regulate research and use of human synthetic embryos.

Stem cells are not going to be used to grow human embryos. The synthetic mouse embryos couldn't develop into a real mouse. We don't know a lot about human embryos, which can take a long time to come to term.

Paul Tesar, a developmental Biologist at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine who was not involved in the study, said that this innovation could put this field of research in motion.

Tesar said it was an important step for them to be able to study early development.

It's possible to create an embryo from scratch and possibly a living organisms. It has been a notable change.