A team of US scientists has produced a method which greatly increases the production of mature human cells in mouse embryos.
The work paves the way for developing more efficient mouse models to study human diseases, such as Covid-19, and human development.
The researchers from the University of Buffalo (UB) and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, USA, injected human stem cells into a mouse embryo which resulted in it generating millions of human cells, including liver cells, eye cells, and red blood cells.
This resulted in a mouse embryo that at a low estimate is made up of 4% human cells after 17 days.
“This is fundamental research that allows us to use the mouse embryo to help us better understand human development,” said Jian Feng, corresponding author and professor of physiology and biophysics at UB