Scientists use human skin cells to create functional eggs, opening a door to new infertility treatments

The egg with a human skin cell nucleus before fertilization. Mitalipov Laboratory

Scientists have used human skin cells to create fertilizable eggs capable of producing early embryos, an advance that could expand possibilities for fertility treatment, according to new research.

The proof-of-concept study , published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, involved taking the nucleus, the part of the cell that contains most of its genetic information, from an ordinary human skin cell and transplanting it into a donor egg stripped of its own nucleus. The researchers produced 82 functional human oocytes, or immature egg cells, which then underwent fertilization in the lab.

The result — an egg that shares DNA with the person who offered the skin cell and that can be fertilized wit