Scientists from UNSW Sydney have started an experiment at the Kensington lab that aims to mimic a key step in animal and human embryo development and may eventually lead to a new approach to enable this to happen outside of the body.
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The process, called gastrulation, occurs at Day 14 for an embryo developing in the womb, but scientists at the UNSW Sydney showed it can be done much earlier than how it occurs naturally.
The experiment, led by Scientia Associate Professor Kris Kilian, involves a gastrulation-like event that was triggered within two days of culturing human stem cells in a unique biomaterial that, as it turned out, set the conditions to mimic this stage of embryo development.
Gastrulation, as Associate Prof Kilian describes it, is the key step that leads to the human body plan.
When a human being starts to form, a mass of undifferentiated cells begin the first steps of a long journey in the womb.
“It is the start of the process where a simple sheet of cells transforms to make up all the tissues of the body – nerves, cardiovascular and blood tissue and structural tissue like muscle and bone. But we haven’t really been able to study the process in humans because you can’t study this in the lab without taking developing embryonic tissue,” Associate Prof Kilian said.
Associate Prof Kilian said that it’s really exciting that they were able to see this happening in vitro.
“Our method could lead to a new approach to mimic human embryogenesis outside of a person.”
Associate Professor Kris Kilian, UNSW Sydney
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Scientists from UNSW Sydney, using a technique adapted from the semiconductor industry, defined regions that are fabricated across a hydrogel for cells to stick to.
The researchers from the Sydney school are hopeful they can continue exploring the benefits of their discovery by understanding how materials can guide embryogenesis and beyond. Although the finding is exciting, Associate Prof Kilian still believes more work is needed to guide the gastrulation-like processes to form useful tissues.