THE dream of growing eggs from precursor cells in a test tube has come a step closer. This could help women and girls facing chemotherapy to have children later on, and even help conservationists breed at-risk species.
Most mammals produce only a few eggs at a time. If immature precursor cells could be matured outside the body, far more eggs could be obtained. Now Izuho Hatada’s team at Gunma University in Japan has managed to grow mouse eggs from their very earliest stages and produce healthy offspring from them.
If Hatada’s technique works with human eggs, it would provide a new way to preserve the fertility…
