They then used a combination of nutrients to coax them to develope into round cells which were just a few steps away from mature sperms and appeared genetically normal. The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine team, led by Dr James Easley, believe they have cracked the most difficult part of sperm development. This means that by altering the procedure it should now be relatively easy to get to the next stage – elongated cells that, while yet to grow tails, should be able to fertilise eggs.
The technique is still many years away from use in clinics, however, the science is fraught with moral and ethical concerns. Critics argue that it is wrong to meddle with the building blocks of life and warn of a future in which babies are created through entirely artificial means. Scientists have already succeeded in coaxing embryonic stem cells, which are master cells plucked from embryos in their first days of life, turning them into sperms.
