4 ms·

Scientists claim to have created human sperm in laboratory

26 points by nreece 17y ago

dantheman 17y ago
That is truly amazing, it's great that almost weekly I see something created that seemed like it might be decades away. There are a lot of political/legal consequences of research like this, paternity tests can be used to rob unwitting men if someone decides to create a child without their knowledge. Also, this may eventually change the burden of proof in various forms of assault as the presence of sperm doesn't actually indicate that the individual involved was there. On the flip side the upside is amazing, allowing sterile fathers to have children. And of course the technology is involved is amazing.
- klipt 17y ago
  It might also allow lesbian couples to conceive using only their own DNA, if this technology isn't limited to male genes.
  - lucumo 17y ago
    You'd still need the Y-chromosome. While not as big as the others, it does contain some genetic material.
    - gojomo 17y ago
      Not if they want a daughter.
      - alexandros 17y ago
        and it follows then that women will be able to carry their own clones too..
      - NickM 17y ago
        So if lesbians could reproduce...and they could only have daughters...and if it turns out there's a genetic predisposition towards lesbianism... This is probably a completely ridiculous idea, but I wonder if men might someday be weeded out by "natural" selection.
        eru 17y ago
        Why? Male couples should be able to reproduce in the same way --- given enough money to rent out a womb (or the technology to create one). As an added bonus they can also create females.
      - anthonyw 17y ago
        Some of his early work led to stories about “an end to men”, enabling lesbian couples to have their own biological children without male involvement but, according to Prof Nayernia, these were based on a “misunderstanding”. “IVD sperm can only be produced from stem cells with male [XY] chromosomes,” he said. “Stem cells with female [XX] chromosomes can be prompted to form early-stage sperm but do not progress further. This demonstrates that the genes on a Y chromosome are essential for meiosis and sperm maturation.” From: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f16dfe8-6b2f-11de-861d-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f16dfe8-6b2f-11de-861d-00144feabd...
    - jodrellblank 17y ago
      "news.ychromasome.com. While not as big as the others, it does contain some material"?
- tybris 17y ago
  Yup, when the economy is down all the smart people rush back to science ;-).
- cousin_it 17y ago
  paternity tests can be used to rob unwitting men if someone decides to create a child without their knowledge This would be a problem with the law, not a problem with the science.
  - dantheman 17y ago
    Just pointing out that as science advances old techniques need to be updated. In no way was I implying that there was any problem with science.
- jeremyawon 17y ago
  an upside i haven't seen mentioned is birth control - if the technology were perfected, men could sterilize themselves without giving up the possibility of having children.
onreact-com 17y ago
So now we can make humans in factories like in Matrix?
- ars 17y ago
  You'd still need a uterus. Plus they didn't do that in the Matrix (as far I can remember from the show it was regular births).
  - ErrantX 17y ago
    In the film it specifically says "grown" and mentions fields.
bd 17y ago
Are adult stem cells equivalent to embryonal ones? From how I understood it, they just separated germline cells from very early embryos and let them develop into sperm in an incubator (that is, these germline stem cells would anyway develop into sperm, if left in the embryo). While this is certainly interesting, for "curing" infertility, wouldn't you still need to find a way how to turn adult stem cells into germline stem cells? This seems like equivalent problem to "growing hearts in a vat".
- eru 17y ago
  However soup of sperms has less structure than a heart. So it might be easier to grow.
- klipt 17y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_pluripotent_stem_cell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_pluripotent_stem_cell
  - bd 17y ago
    Amazing. This is actually much more interesting than the original post.
tricky 17y ago
Wow... Biology: the ultimate hack... Anyone think that the singularity will be more about biology than computers?
- fburnaby 17y ago
  Biology was the first singularity. Something sophisticated enough to reproduce itself, and then improve itself.
- rms 17y ago
  There are all sorts of different singularities, in my opinion. Cold fusion would be a singularity. Biological immortality/gene modification in the living is another. Self-improving AI is the singularity that encompasses all of the possible singularities.

26 points by nreece 17y ago

That is truly amazing, it's great that almost weekly I see something created that seemed like it might be decades away. There are a lot of political/legal consequences of research like this, paternity tests can be used to rob unwitting men if someone decides to create a child without their knowledge. Also, this may eventually change the burden of proof in various forms of assault as the presence of sperm doesn't actually indicate that the individual involved was there. On the flip side the upside is amazing, allowing sterile fathers to have children. And of course the technology is involved is amazing.

klipt 17y ago
It might also allow lesbian couples to conceive using only their own DNA, if this technology isn't limited to male genes.
- lucumo 17y ago
  You'd still need the Y-chromosome. While not as big as the others, it does contain some genetic material.
  - gojomo 17y ago
    Not if they want a daughter.
    - alexandros 17y ago
      and it follows then that women will be able to carry their own clones too..
    - NickM 17y ago
      So if lesbians could reproduce...and they could only have daughters...and if it turns out there's a genetic predisposition towards lesbianism... This is probably a completely ridiculous idea, but I wonder if men might someday be weeded out by "natural" selection.
      - eru 17y ago
        Why? Male couples should be able to reproduce in the same way --- given enough money to rent out a womb (or the technology to create one). As an added bonus they can also create females.
    - anthonyw 17y ago
      Some of his early work led to stories about “an end to men”, enabling lesbian couples to have their own biological children without male involvement but, according to Prof Nayernia, these were based on a “misunderstanding”. “IVD sperm can only be produced from stem cells with male [XY] chromosomes,” he said. “Stem cells with female [XX] chromosomes can be prompted to form early-stage sperm but do not progress further. This demonstrates that the genes on a Y chromosome are essential for meiosis and sperm maturation.” From: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f16dfe8-6b2f-11de-861d-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f16dfe8-6b2f-11de-861d-00144feabd...
  - jodrellblank 17y ago
    "news.ychromasome.com. While not as big as the others, it does contain some material"?
tybris 17y ago
Yup, when the economy is down all the smart people rush back to science ;-).
cousin_it 17y ago
paternity tests can be used to rob unwitting men if someone decides to create a child without their knowledge This would be a problem with the law, not a problem with the science.
- dantheman 17y ago
  Just pointing out that as science advances old techniques need to be updated. In no way was I implying that there was any problem with science.
jeremyawon 17y ago
an upside i haven't seen mentioned is birth control - if the technology were perfected, men could sterilize themselves without giving up the possibility of having children.

onreact-com 17y ago

So now we can make humans in factories like in Matrix?

ars 17y ago
You'd still need a uterus. Plus they didn't do that in the Matrix (as far I can remember from the show it was regular births).
- ErrantX 17y ago
  In the film it specifically says "grown" and mentions fields.

bd 17y ago

Are adult stem cells equivalent to embryonal ones? From how I understood it, they just separated germline cells from very early embryos and let them develop into sperm in an incubator (that is, these germline stem cells would anyway develop into sperm, if left in the embryo). While this is certainly interesting, for "curing" infertility, wouldn't you still need to find a way how to turn adult stem cells into germline stem cells? This seems like equivalent problem to "growing hearts in a vat".

eru 17y ago
However soup of sperms has less structure than a heart. So it might be easier to grow.
klipt 17y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_pluripotent_stem_cell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_pluripotent_stem_cell
- bd 17y ago
  Amazing. This is actually much more interesting than the original post.

tricky 17y ago

Wow... Biology: the ultimate hack... Anyone think that the singularity will be more about biology than computers?

fburnaby 17y ago
Biology was the first singularity. Something sophisticated enough to reproduce itself, and then improve itself.
rms 17y ago
There are all sorts of different singularities, in my opinion. Cold fusion would be a singularity. Biological immortality/gene modification in the living is another. Self-improving AI is the singularity that encompasses all of the possible singularities.