Eggs from Men, Sperm from Women: The Potential of In Vitro Gametogenesis

Introduction

• In Vitro Gametogenesis: Technique to turn skin cells into eggs or sperm.
  • Skin cell from a man can become an egg.
  • Skin cell from a woman can become sperm.
• Implications for genetically-related parents or single parenthood.
• Human applications are still a distance away, but progress is ongoing.

Current State of Technology

• Uses pluripotent stem cells to develop into eggs or sperm.
• Techniques are evolving from embryo stem cells and reverting adult cells.
• Promising animal studies:
  • 2012: Live-born baby mice from skin cells.
  • Recent: Mouse pups from two genetic fathers and mothers.
• Human adaptation is still in infancy.
• Legal and regulatory systems are unprepared for human applications.

Potential Applications

1. Streamlining IVF:

   • Could eliminate hormone injections and surgical procedures.
   • Reduces risk of ovarian overstimulation.

2. Overcoming Medical Infertility:

   • Generate eggs for women without functioning ovaries or after early menopause.

3. Enabling Same-Sex Reproduction:

   • Allows genetically related children for same-sex couples.

Legal, Regulatory, and Ethical Issues

• Profound implications for family dynamics and parenthood.
• Key questions:
  1. Safety: Requires careful trials and monitoring.
  2. Equity: Access and affordability issues; public funding considerations.
  3. Access Restrictions: Potential age-related applications.
  4. Surrogacy Needs: Limited surrogate availability, especially in Australia.
  5. Legal Parenthood: Challenges with more than two parents or single parenthood.

Ethical Considerations

• Controversial aspects, particularly same-sex reproduction.
• Comparisons to social infertility challenges.
• Potential applications like solo reproduction and multiplex parenting.
• Implications for prenatal genetic selection and designer babies.

Urgency for Discussion

• Technological progress is rapid.
• Law and ethics may lag behind such profound advances.
• Need for preemptive discussion on regulation and ethical constraints.

Contributors: Laura Smith, Monash University