Human-animal cybrids

Scientists say that these cells could lead to the development of the first-ever human-cell models of complex genetic diseases and, eventually, new tissue-replacement therapies. Lack of human eggs has presented an enormous obstacle: eggs are collected via a lengthy and potentially painful and risky procedure that few women are willing to undergo.

Readily available animal eggs could fill that gap. Rather than inserting the DNA of a human cell into a donated human egg, scientists would insert human DNA into a cow or rabbit egg and then collect stem cells from the resulting embryos. The DNA of these cells would be overwhelmingly human, with a tiny percentage of animal DNA from the egg. To date, only one group, in China, has successfully generated human stem cells with this approach, but several groups around the world are trying to repeat it.

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