reproductive technology

Uterine transplants are becoming more common to enable infertile women — and perhaps, eventually men — to give birth. How’s that project going? A new study detailing the outcomes of more than 40 cases of uterine transplants and subsequent IVF-enabled pregnancies published in JAMA provides details: Between 2016 and March 2026, a total of 44 women underwent uterus transplant. One month after uterus transplant, 37 women had a viable transplanted uterus. As of April 2026, a total of 33 women underwent embryo transfer (90 embryos), resulting in 47 clinical pregnancies in 31 unique women, 39 of which continued to at least 14 weeks’ gestation. In 27 unique women, there were 31 live births: 23 women delivered 1 child and 4 Read More ›

Brave new world alert! Scientists used a machine deployed in organ transplant medicine to keep a surgically removed human uterus alive for one day, furthering the goal of being able to use donated uteri experimentally over long periods of time, including for gestation. From the MIT Technology story: The team members want to keep donated human uteruses alive long enough to see a full menstrual cycle. They hope this will help them study diseases of the uterus and learn more about how embryos burrow their way into the organ’s lining at the start of a pregnancy. They also hope that future iterations of their device might one day sustain the full gestation of a human fetus. The machine is technically Read More ›

Should men have the right to have their cells manipulated so they can become biological mothers? Should women past child-bearing age have the same right if their own eggs are no longer viable? More to the point, should we all have the right to do whatever it takes to have a baby if that is our desire and also, to obtain the baby we want?

These questions have ceased to be grist for science fiction authors. Researchers recently announced that they have genetically manipulated human skin cells to become eggs, including those of men (the idea being to eventually enable both members of a same sex couple to have a genetic connection with their child). Then, after more genetic tinkering, the eggs were fertilized into embryos via IVF. Finally, the biotechnologists monitored embryonic development until the experiment was stopped, and the embryos destroyed.

No pregnancy has been established with this technique. But that is cold comfort. The researchers plan to keep experimenting and I have little doubt that when they overcome remaining technical difficulties, someone will create a pregnancy using “skin cell” embryos. After all, what beyond self-restraint—currently in little supply in this field—is to stop them?

Resources are being invested at an astounding level in radical reproductive technologies. Now, researchers have created human eggs from skin cells and successfully fertilized some of them with IVF. From the Guardian story: Researchers have created human eggs from skin cells, potentially transforming IVF treatment for couples who have no other options. The work is at an early stage but if scientists can perfect the process it would provide genetically related eggs for women who are infertile because of older age, illness or medical treatment. The same procedure could be used to make eggs for same-sex male couples. The effort involved a cloning-like technique: The Oregon team took a similar approach by collecting skin cells from women and removing the Read More ›