{"id":341075,"date":"2017-05-16T23:00:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1490154"},"modified":"2017-05-16T23:00:15","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T15:00:15","slug":"scientists-3d-printed-ovaries-and-made-mouse-babies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/scientists-3d-printed-ovaries-and-made-mouse-babies\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists 3D-printed ovaries and made mouse babies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Scientists from Northwestern University have developed<\/a> a bioprosthetic ovary using 3D-printing technology and produced living, breathing mouse offspring from them.<\/p>\n

Northwestern\u2019s Feinberg school of medicine and McCormick school of engineering came together for the project using 3D-printing technology and follicles from prior ovarian tissue to form a scaffold that was then placed inside the mouse. Scientists were then able to validate that the new ovaries helped boost hormone production and increased fertility in the mice with the prosthetic ovaries.<\/p>\n

While the study centers on mice, it is targeted to women who survived childhood cancer and may not have otherwise had the chance to have children due to the cancer treatment\u2019s\u00a0damage to their ovaries. Young girls going through the cancer treatment will simply need to cryopreserve\u00a0the ovary prior to treatment and then scientists can use their genetic material to make new ovaries when they are ready to have children.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0might also help women who might be suffering from low ovarian reserve or older women who, due to the age of their eggs, may have a harder time getting pregnant, according to one of the study\u2019s senior authors Teresa K. Woodruff. However, that\u2019s not likely to happen for another 10 to 15 years, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scaffold would be useful in these cases once we have iPS-derived female oocytes and the hormone producing somatic cells (granulosa and theca) and we are able to develop a complete in vitro iPS-derived follicle,\u201d Woodruff told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n

In translation, that means scientists would need to make an egg using the woman\u2019s stem cells, then\u00a0ensure sex hormone production was happening and then insert into a functioning ovarian follicle to stimulate the cycle.<\/p>\n

The whole thing borders on some strange-sounding science-fiction but science has actually created eggs from stem cells already. Last October, we brought you a story<\/a> about a group of Japanese scientists who were able to successfully make mouse babies using the rodent\u2019s skin cells.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s\u00a0Prelude<\/a>, a $200 million fertility startup in Atlanta, Georgia that promises it can turn back the biological clock for older women wanting to have kids\u00a0by growing younger, biologically identical eggs. Prelude is not allowed to serve patients in the U.S. at the moment as it does not have FDA approval but it says it has already successfully created younger eggs for several women in Canada and Japan.<\/p>\n

Combined, these methods hold a lot of promise for women who may for a number of reasons not had the opportunity to have children when they wanted or\u00a0changed their mind about having a family when it was too late.<\/p>\n

So far Northwestern has banked 375 ovarian tissues from human patients age one month to 39 years old in 98 participating centers around the country for the purpose of helping these women reproduce at a later date.<\/p>\n