What if having children in the future didn’t depend on age, fertility, or even biology in the traditional sense?
That is the possibility raised by a revolutionary study carried out in the United States, where scientists have, for the first time, converted human skin cells into eggs.
And they fertilized them with sperm in the laboratory.
The process, called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), is still in its infancy.
Researchers warn that it could take at least a decade before we are close to being ready for future parents.
However, the implications are staggering.
“It could allow older women or those without eggs to reproduce genetically,” said Paula Amato of Oregon Health & Science University.
“It would also allow same-sex couples to have a child genetically related to both partners.”
Lab eggs show early success
The method borrows cloning techniques that were first used on Dolly the Sheep in 1996.
Scientists transferred DNA from skin cells to donor eggs.
They then halved the chromosome count through a new process they called “mitomeiosis.”
Of 82 eggs produced in the laboratory, some developed into embryos after fertilization, although only 9% reached a viable early stage, many with abnormalities.
Still, experts call it a “breakthrough.”
As reproductive medicine specialist Ying Cheong said: “This could transform the way we understand infertility and miscarriage.”
For now, the science is experimental, but the family’s future could be closer than we think.
