Apparently in its fourth week, the "chimera" (an organism with cells from two different species) embryo is one of the controversial scientific achievements today that aims to prove the compatibility of inoculating human cells to other species.
Led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, professor from Salk Institute, 40 collaborators took four years to conceptualize how to create a human-pig hybrid.
In an experiment like this, that will use real human life form, survival of a human cell inside a host animal cell will be tested.
This advancement vies to aid the need for organ donors.
It is said that a person was added to the long list for organ transplant every ten minutes, 22 of which die everyday because of organ shortage.
Public funding and public opinion about the creation of a human-pig hybrid had been in contention for many conservative sectors that impeded the process of the research.
Jun Wu, lead study author from Salk Institute, explained that modern-day hybrids may just be likened to mythical chimeras we had before like angels, which is half human, half bird.
He added that hybrids in the ancient time were always associated with God knowing that they can guard humans.
Wu, in behalf of his team, hopes their chimeras will do the same thing in the future.
The idea has sparked as soon as stem cell was discovered as a relevant medical advancement and now was widely used to cure many types of diseases by its awesome power to produce any type of tissue.
This was first experimented with a mouse but it failed because of difference in gestation period and organ structure, things that were almost akin to pigs.
Source/Image: National Geographic
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