⚡️ Human Sperm Grown in a Lab for the First Time

Researchers at Paterna Biosciences claim to have produced functional human sperm from stem cells and used them to create embryos — something no one has done before.

Inside the human body, turning stem cells into mature sperm takes about two months. It's a multi-step process: cells divide, take on their final shape, develop a head and a mobile tail, and then gain the ability to swim. Until now, no one had managed to replicate all these steps in a lab dish for human cells.

💻 The Paterna team used computational biology to predict the molecular signals required at each stage and created a molecular cocktail that guides the cells through the entire maturation process right in a Petri dish. According to the company, the lab-grown sperm looks practically identical to natural sperm.

➡️ The technology could help men whose bodies don't produce sperm but who still have preserved stem cells. Instead of complex surgical extraction (which can take up to 4 hours and often fails to find any sperm), the process involves a simple in-office biopsy, with the rest done in the lab.

✈️ The findings haven't been independently peer-reviewed yet. Clinical trials are planned for 2027. For now, the technology can't be used to achieve pregnancy.

💰 According to the developers' estimates, the procedure is expected to cost between $5,000 and $12,000.

Is that a fair price for such a breakthrough?

❤️ — Yes, it's a game-changer
🤔 — Too expensive...

@hiaimediaen