6mo ago

Technology for lab-grown eggs or sperm on brink of viability, UK fertility watchdog finds

www.theguardian.com

Exclusive: In-vitro gametes are viewed as the holy grail of fertility research

16 comments

Synthetic humans and the augment wars - here we come!
- Filthy Tanks
"Mass-producing eggs and sperm in a laboratory in order to have a baby with yourself or three other people in a “multiplex” parenting arrangement might sound like the plot of a dystopian novel.
But these startling scenarios are under consideration by the UK’s fertility watchdog, which has concluded that the technology could be on the brink of viability."
That's weird
- I guess the answer is in the next line:
  “Bolstered by Silicon Valley investment“
- It's certainly different. I was going to say unique, but that would be incorrect.
- Idk about dystopian
This honestly sounds really interesting for same-sex families. I hope this technology works out sooner rather than later. It would be really nice to potentially have a fully biological family like straight couples :)
(And it might eventually be way less expensive than adopting donor eggs/sperm)
- Would lesbians be able to have boys if both gave their material? Women only have X sex chromosomes and men have both X and Y, so if I'm not mistaken two (or more) lesbians wouldn't be able to conceive boys.
  Anti Commercial-AI license
  
  Sounds correct to me. Females are XX, so neither parent would have the Y that's necessary to make an XY male.
  
  I honestly have no idea. Interesting to think about, though.
Hey, anybody ever read "Brave New World"?
- iirc the main issue with familial reproduction is that, since families are likely to share much of the same genes, they are likely to share much of the same recessive genes. Invisible in individuals with just one copy, the union of two such individuals can create an individual with two copies, which means the trait is expressed.
  If it is cloning, that is fine, but if it remixes the DNA, It could potentially cause expression of recessive traits? I think?
- The child would just be a genetic clone of the parent. There would be no change in genetic risks.
- Good question. I thought it would be more like having a clone of yourself, but maybe that's the same issue? Copy of a copy?
  
  Yeah, copy of the copy is probably a bad idea.

16 comments