George Church’s lab gets closer to creating human eggs in a dish, and a new startup plans to finish the job
By Ryan Cross,
Endpoints News
| 08. 19. 2025
Human eggs are incredibly rare cells. The ovary typically produces only 400 mature eggs across a woman’s life. But biologists in George Church’s lab at Harvard University — a group that’s never content with nature’s limits — just got a step closer toward a technique that could one day allow people to grow eggs on demand.
The approach, known as in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, would allow scientists to make eggs or sperm from adult stem cells. If scientists are successful, IVG could rewrite the rules of assisted reproduction by giving people with infertility and even same-sex couples the ability to have biological children through in vitro fertilization.
Church’s lab is one of a small number pursuing the controversial research. On Friday, its researchers published a new study in Science Advances showing they could coax adult stem cells into meiosis, the special form of cell division that germline stem cells use to create eggs and sperm, and thus a crucial step towards IVG.
The team only got the cells to go about two-thirds of the way through meiosis, after...
Related Articles
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...
By Aaron Ginn, The Washington Post | 09.12.2025
Earlier this year, I had dinner in D.C. with Jensen Huang, the president and chief executive of Nvidia. At one point, he said something that struck me: “Why is everyone here so negative?”
He wasn’t referring to the economy...
By Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times | 08.25.2025
Scientists have dreamed for centuries about using animal organs to treat ailing humans. In recent years, those efforts have begun to bear fruit: Researchers have begun transplanting the hearts and kidneys of genetically modified pigs into patients, with varying degrees...
The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...
