Australia (Commonwealth Union) – Accidental discoveries have led to several significant breakthroughs. Some of these discoveries include matches, popsicles, super glue and penicillin. A new accidental discovery in a lab has the possibility of revolutionizing embryo models and targeted drug therapies.
Materials scientists at the University of New South Wales, (UNSW) have demonstrated that human pluripotent stem cells in a lab can commence a procedure similar to the gastrulation phase, where cells differentiate into new cell types at a faster rate than in nature. An embryo forming in the womb, has a gastrulation taking place at day 14. However, in a lab at UNSW’s Kensington campus, Scientia Associate Professor Kris Kilian oversaw research where a gastrulation-like event was brought about within two days of culturing human stem cells in a unique biomaterial which paved the way for the conditions to mimic this stage of embryo formation.
Professor Kilian indicated that gastrulation is the vital part bringing about the human body plan. “It is the start of the process where a simple sheet of cells transforms to make up all the tissues of the body – nerves, cardiovascular and blood tissue and structural tissue like muscle and bone. But we haven’t really been able to study the process in humans because you can’t study this in the lab without taking developing embryonic tissue,” he said further stating that it was really exciting that they had the ability to see it taking place in vitro.
The achievement, published in the journal Advanced Science, does not only have impact for their knowledge of human embryonic development, but new therapies in medicine including cell therapy, targeted drug development and CRISPR gene-editing software as well. Gastrulation being the most significant part of an embryo’s development, when a mass of undifferentiated cells begins the first stages of a long period in the womb to the production of a human being. This is the main reason work on embryos left over from IVF is prohibited beyond 14 days, when gastrulation occurs.
Professor Kilian stated that until now, it has been hard to study this procedure in humans due to obvious ethical constraints. “Controlling gastrulation using materials alone will provide an entirely new way for studying human development,” he said. “We currently can’t do this because embryo research beyond 14 days is often viewed as unethical, and it’s currently impossible in vivo because you’d need to observe an embryo in a pregnant human mother.”
Even though animal models exist to study mice and zebrafish, other researchers have initiated gastrulation-like events in lab conditions applying chemicals like growth factors, this is the first time culture conditions alone started the gastrulation outside a human body. The scientists are optimistic they can proceed further in evaluating the advantages of this discovery by understanding the way materials may lead embryogenesis and beyond.
Professor Kilian indicated that while the discovery is exciting, further studies are required to guide the gastrulation-like processes to produce useful tissues. He further noted that this is the first step in what they hope is a platform technology in forming useful tissue models, also stating that triggering gastrulation is not sufficient and now they have to provide other signals to continue differentiation.
Finding the next set of materials signals may permit the formation of virtually any solid tissue that can be applied in research, according to Professor Kilian, and also to produce useful cell types in regenerative medicine. “Considering pluripotent stem cells can now be generated from blood or tissue samples, the future is wide open for regenerating tissues and organs from a patient’s own cells,” he said.
