California biotech startup aims to make lab-grown BABIES and believes it ‘will change society as we know it’

A California startup is trying to create human eggs in a lab with the first technology of its kind that would revolutionize the fertility market.

Biotech company Conception aims to accelerate and eventually commercialize in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), a process by which human eggs and sperm are created in a lab from every cell in a person’s body.

This could mean people struggling with infertility, as well as same-sex and transgender couples, could have their own biological children for the first time.

But there are ethical concerns, because it means women of any age can have babies. Parents may also want to design their offspring to have certain traits using gene-editing tools, to give way to the idea of ​​a supposedly perfect child.

“Personally, I think what we’re doing is likely to change many aspects of society as we know it,” Pablo Hurtado, Conception’s chief scientific officer, told NPR.

‘It is very exciting to work on a technology that can change the lives of millions of people.’

Co-founder Matt Krisiloff said the team is essentially trying to convert a type of human stem cell called an induced pluripotent stem cell into a human egg.

These stem cells can be made from just a single cell of a person’s skin or blood.

In theory, these cells can become any cell in the body, including egg and sperm cells.

This would allow women to have their own genetically related babies even if they have lost their own eggs, which can happen due to cancer treatment, the inability to produce healthy babies, or due to aging, which makes them no longer viable.

It would also represent a breakthrough for same-sex and transgender couples who would otherwise not be able to have biological children of their own.

The treatment has already been used to create a mouse with two biological fathers, but is still years away from human studies.

For example, both Mr. Krisiloff and Mr. Hurtado are gay and hope the treatment can help them each have children of their own.

‘[This] really opens the door, if you can make the eggs, to being able to help people have children who otherwise don’t have options right now,” Mr Krisiloff said.

This practice differs from common methods such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intrauterine insemination (IUI), which still require sperm and eggs.

The company is also developing combinations of cells called mini ovaries that will help transform follicles into immature human eggs. Conception has not yet revealed how it created human ovarian follicles in mini ovaries.

However, Krisiloff said the company hopes to prove that the follicles in the mini-ovaries can grow into eggs that can make babies.

“We think it means that we’re close to being able to have proof-of-concept human eggs — rather than this abstract idea that’s really just some imaginative sci-fi idea — that really indicates that, ‘Hey, this technology is actually closer than people think,” he said.

IVG has shown promise in some studies. A Japanese study published in the journal Science showed success in mice, for example.

However, the technology still has a long way to go.

Conception has not published any findings in journals, and outside scientists have not yet been able to validate the claims. Mr Krisiloff said more research is needed to prove the technology is safe.

Critics have also raised concerns that this could lead to “designer babies,” where parents pick and choose the child’s appearance and features.

It’s unclear when this technology could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and widely used.

However, scientists are still confident that the research is moving in the right direction.

“Opening this door to so many more people — including, you know, me and Pablo — is really cool. It could allow so many people, you know, families and children to have a life,” Mr Krisiloff said.

“I just think that’s really nice.”