The recipe for mammalian life is simple: take an egg, add sperm and wait. But two new papers demonstrate that there’s another way. Under the right conditions, stem cells can divide and self-organize into an embryo. In studies published in Cell and Nature recently, two groups report that they have grown synthetic mouse embryos for 8.5 days, longer than ever before. The embryos developed distinct organs — a beating heart, a gut tube and even neural folds.Research is being conducted at University of Cambridge, UK, and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. For more information: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02334-2
Temporary vasectomies could be a "game-changer" for contraception if a world-first trial at a Melbourne hospital is successful.Twenty-five men taking part in the study will have a hydrogel injected into the vas deferens — the tubes that carry sperm — to stop sperm travelling from the testicles.It's believed the effect of the hydrogel would last for about two years and could then be reinjected, offering an alternative to a standard vasectomy, which is intended to be permanent.https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/in-a-world-first-an-australian-hospital-trials-game-changing-temporary-vasectomies/69zs897b6?
"Australia has some of the basic building blocks, including an “abundance of world class universities and an abundance of world class intellectual property. It also has an abundance of CROs (contract research organisations) to develop late stage assets. What we don’t have is the piece in the middle which is the preclinical experience to develop these early stage assets and the investors to fund it.”Proto Axiom is set to announce its first major investment with a second expected early next year....Read the articlehttps://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/backing-biotechs-with-usstyle-entrepreneurialism/news-story/4b5b76f83fcd2e1fa2ed00d5d84f0bd8...About Proto Axiom
