Human eggs from skin cells: 'Partially works, and partially doesn't'

For the past four years, scientists at Oregon Health & Science University have been trying to write a new recipe for human reproduction. In 2022, the team led by boundary-breaking embryologist Shoukhrat Mitalipov reported the birth of three healthy mouse pups from eggs created in the lab with DNA from the skin cells of adult mice. But in a new paper, they disclosed that their attempt to try the technique with human cells has been mostly unsuccessful — at least so far.

In a research update , published Tuesday in Nature Communications, the group revealed that it has made some progress, including creating a process for reducing the number of chromosomes in a cell, dubbed “mitomeiosis” — a necessary step to avoid creating embryos with double the normal number of chromosomes. If the team o