An ambitious financial venture has been funding experiments where human stem cells are injected into animal embryos, resulting in the creation of a hybrid entity known as a ‘chimera,’ which is a combination of human and animal traits.
According to ISNA, quoting Engadget, experts initially opposed these experiments last year, but after further investigation, their stance changed, and they approved of this endeavor.
Researchers behind this study believe that the emergence of these human-animal hybrid organisms, known as chimeras, holds extraordinary potential for disease modeling, drug testing, and ultimately, organ transplantation.
In Greek mythology, the chimera was a creature with a lion’s head, goat’s body, and serpent’s tail.
This research involves injecting human stem cells into animal embryos at an early stage and then transferring these embryos into the womb of an animal. Despite the financial support ban in this field by the top medical and health institution in the U.S., some research centers in the country persist in their efforts to cultivate human organs within the bodies of pigs and sheep. Their goal is to create organs such as hearts and livers for eventual human transplantation.
These hybrid experiments combine advanced and cutting-edge techniques, including novel discoveries in stem cell biology and gene-editing technologies.
Today, scientists can easily alter the genetic makeup of pigs or sheep through gene editing, rendering them incapable of producing certain organs genetically.
Subsequently, by introducing human stem cells, they prompt these cells to develop the specific organ within the animal’s body, which can then be utilized for human organ transplantation.
However, this initiative by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) doesn’t signify a 100% realization of a hybrid being; rather, these scientists are still in the early stages of exploration and face a challenging road ahead. Additionally, the pursuit of growing human organs within animals raises ethical concerns, as it involves adding human cells to animal embryos, potentially blurring the lines between human and animal species.