The Guardian reports that scientists are a few years away from creating viable human gametes in the lab.
In March 2023, Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi, a developmental geneticist at the University of Osaka, Japan, presented his findings on creating an egg from a male mouse at the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing in London (see BioNews 1182). Now he estimates that his team are about seven years away from creating viable lab-grown human sperm by in vitro gametogenesis (IVG).
Professor Allan Pacey, a professor of andrology and deputy vice-president of the University of Manchester, and former trustee of PET (the Progress Educational Trust) said: 'I think somebody will crack it. I'm ready for it. Whether society has realised, I don't know.'