The triumph of tolerance: "pink" and "blue" will be able to have children

In two years, the first child from same-sex parents may appear

Copper news based on The Sunday Times: Cell breakthrough to bring two-dad babies

Scientists from the University of Cambridge (Cambridge University) together with the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science) have shown the possibility of obtaining human eggs and sperm from the skin of two adults of the same sex (for details, see the press release Egg and sperm race: Scientists create precursors to human egg and sperm - VM). Technology can help infertile couples and people of non-traditional sexual orientation become parents.

The skin cells were reprogrammed into stem cells, and the epigenetic mutations accumulated in them disappeared with age. Azim Surani, a Cambridge professor and project leader, says that although the technology is not able to exclude the transmission of mutation to an unborn child, in most cases this will not happen. To create an embryo from the obtained gametes, the IVF method will be used. Jacob Hanna, the leader of the Israeli part of the project, believes that the embryo can be created in two years.

A diagram from the article by Irie et al. SOX17 Is a Critical Specifier of Human Primordial Germ Cell Fate, published in Cell – VM.

Allan Pacey, an expert on infertility and professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield, comments that he is particularly encouraged by the prospect of using skin cells for men who have survived childhood oncology and remain infertile. In addition, the technology can be useful for elderly couples.

Researchers recognize that the development can cause ethical disputes, and its implementation in practice will require changes in legislation.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru26.02.2015