Infertility Breakthrough: Lab-Created Sperm
(Copyright DPC)
A French startup working with a top government lab says it has
developed in-vitro human sperm, claiming a breakthrough in
infertility treatment sought for more than a decade.
Researchers with Kallistem had announced the discovery previously,
but they and French government lab CNRS described how it works for
the first time Thursday.
They have so far only developed sperm using immature cells such as
those found in prepubescent boys, but they say the technology could
help some infertile men whose sperm doesn't develop properly.
It still must be clinically tested.
The main challenge was reproducing in the lab a complex
physiological development process that usually lasts 72 days in
a human.
The research team developed a bioreactor using a viscous fluid
made partly of substances found in the walls of mushrooms or in
crustacean shells.
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