German Researchers Make Stem Cells into Proto-Sperm

04/14/2007

Playful.com


A German team of researchers has announced they managed to turn adult stem cells taken from the bone marrow into primitive sperm cells in a first step towards creating artificial sperm cells. The research was published yesterday, Friday, April 13th, in the academic journal 'Reproduction: Gamete Biology'.

The team, led by Dr. Karim Nayernia at the University of Gottingenin Germany, reported they extracted the bone marrow stem cells from four adult men who were about to undergo bone marrow transplants, a common treatment for cancer. Dr. Nayernia in 2006 succeeded in using sperm cells created from mouse embryonic stem cells to fertilize mice eggs, resulting in seven live births.

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