Physical Wellness

Human Embryo Research Breakthrough Sparks Ethics Debate

By George Houston | Update Date: May 05, 2016 06:39 AM EDT

The human embryo research controversy has once again been reopened after scientists made it public that they have finally lengthened the ability of a human embryo to survive beyond the authorized 14-day threshold. This laboratory's feat circulated in both Nature and Nature Cell Biology, according to NPR, was a joint scientific venture with the UK research team spearheaded by Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of the University of Cambridge's Developmental Biology along with researchers from the Rockefeller University in New York, U.S.A.

"All of this research which we do in the lab should have enormous benefit,"Zernicka-Goetz explained as they have unlocked a new frontier in human biology relating to the period wherein the human embryo gets rooted to the mother's womb.

The developmental biologist began with nurturing mouse embryos a few years ago which were cleared off from their embedding stage through a particular fusion of amino acids, hormones and growth factors that "would allow embryos to feel as good as they would feel in the body of the mother."

Were human embryos then next in line with the help of stem cell biologist Ali Brivanlou from Rockefeller University as they were fueled by query of will the method sustain the former as well?

"You have to study the human embryo to understand the human embryo," Zernicka-Goetz elucidated on their achievement as the boundary for human embryos for laboratory growth should not be more than two weeks.

The 14-day rule was put forward in 1979 which limits scientists from investigating the elements that compose the later developments of a human embryo. It is a law that is sanctioned in 12 countries. Despite being at odds the researchers believe they will bring forth a more respectable familiarity on the circumstances that trigger birth defects and miscarriages.

"We will learn things we cannot even imagine. It's as if you say: 'If I look at new sets of Hubble Space Telescope pictures that I haven't seen yet, what will I learn from them?' It's difficult to say until you look at them," a quite ecstatic Brinvalou gave justification.

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