Infertility and miscarriage are heartbreaking conditions that occur when people are unable to make viable eggs or sperm - it may be now possible to create them in the lab.

The new technique is called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG) and involves taking skin cells and reprogramming them to become a stem cell. (AQA & OCR)

The nucleus is removed from the skin cell and implanted into an enucleated donor egg cell. This technique is called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) (OCR).

But this egg cell would have 23 pairs of chromosomes – 2 sets of chromosomes – and be diploid, instead of having 23 chromosomes – 1 set of chromosomes – and be haploid. Gametes must be haploid, so that on fusion at fertilisation, the diploid number is restored with the zygote having 2 sets of chromosomes again. (AQA & OCR)

A new technique – mitomeiosis - was used to remove the extra set of chromosomes. It mimics meiosis – a reduction division – where a diploid parent cell has one set of chromosomes removed to become a haploid gamete.

In the study, 82 functional developing eggs were made and then fertilised by sperm. 9% of zygotes developed into a blastocyst. This is the point the experiment ended and this would be the point at which the early embryo would be implanted into the uterus in IVF treatment.

There is much hope for the future, that this will unlock another treatment pathway for infertility. Many women who have suffered from cancer lose their eggs as a part of the cancer treatment. This would reopen the door to parenthood for these women.

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