<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Scientists from the University of Cambridge have created world's first "synthetic" embryo that has a brain, a beating heart, and the building blocks for every other organ in the body, said a report from New York Post. The embryo has been created from mouse stem cells, the outlet further said.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>According to a release from the university, instead of using eggs or sperm, a team lead by Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz created the embryo model using stem cells, which are the body's stem cells and can differentiate into nearly any type of cell.</div><div><br></div><div>Ms Zernicka-Goetz is a professor in Mammalian Development and Stem Cell Biology in Cambridge's Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience.</div><div><br></div><div>The three different stem cell types that are present in early mammalian development were brought to the stage where they begin interacting, imitating natural processes in the laboratory.</div><div><br></div><div>The researchers were able to persuade the stem cells to "talk" to each other by triggering the production of a certain set of genes and creating a special environment for their interactions, the release further said.</div><div><br></div><div>"Our mouse embryo model not only develops a brain, but also a beating heart, all the components that go on to make up the body," the researcher is quoted as saying in the release.</div><div><br></div><div>"It's just unbelievable that we've got this far. This has been the dream of our community for years, and major focus of our work for a decade and finally we've done it," she added.</div><div><br></div><div>In order to understand why some pregnancies fail and others succeed, Professor Zernicka-Goetz's team at Cambridge University has been researching these first phases of pregnancy over the past decade.</div><div><br></div><div>"The stem cell embryo model is important because it gives us accessibility to the developing structure at a stage that is normally hidden from us due to the implantation of the tiny embryo into the mother's womb," Ms Zernicka-Goetz further said.</div><div><br></div><div>The scientists discovered that the extraembryonic cells communicate with the embryonic cells not only chemically but also mechanically, or by touch, in order to direct the embryo's development. Source: NDTV</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>