Scientists have created a model of human embryos from skin cells, in what is being hailed as a breakthrough in the study of infertility but has also raised serious ethical questions.
An international team, led by researchers from Monash University in Melbourne, was able to reprogram skin cells into three-dimensional structures akin to the early stages of human embryos.
Lead researcher Jose Polo said the development would help research that previously required an embryo derived from an egg and sperm.
"It will allow us to study the early days of human development without using human embryos, and it will allow us to study many cases of infertility and, for example, why many miscarriages happen within the first two weeks of pregnancy," he said.
