Member-only story
How can monkey-human hybrid embryos help fix the organ shortage?
It’s all about the blastoids
We have an organ shortage.
People are desperate for organs, but there is no easy way to make more. It would be awesome if we could use a summoning charm (accio membrum?) to create and distribute kidneys and livers, but unless we radically change our approach — or create human organs that we can harvest from animals — we’re shit out of luck.
Last month, a new milestone in attempts to advance medical treatment of humans by using animals, in this case a monkey, kicked off a barrage of commentary from ethicists and scientists. (I link to a lot of that below.)
The scientists at the Salk Institute, led by the prolific regenerative medicine pioneer Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, added human cells to monkey embryos and they grew for almost 3 weeks, until the last of them died at 19 days. According to Stat, “On average, 3% to 4% of the cells in the embryos were human, and in one embryo, up to 7% were.”
The future outcomes are uncertain, and critics will decry the creation of something that seems like it’s out of a Charlton Heston film.
But one thing seems to be true: Scientists will continue on this trajectory, and we might just find a way to save lives with hybrid organs.
