Someone, somewhere, just won a very specific bet their friends were totally convinced would be an easy defeat. A part-pig, part-human embryo has been grown for the first time in history, the Washington Postreported Thursday. The pig-human hybrid, known as a "chimera," is admittedly described by researchers as "highly inefficient," but the fact that a pig-human hybrid even exists at all is fucking awesome:
So what does this mean exactly? Researchers hope that medical professional might one day be able to use chimera embryos to help provide organs to humans in need of a transplant. "That's where the rationale of this kind of experiment comes in," Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a Salk Institute developmental biologist and senior author of the pig-human study, told the Post. "What if we let nature do the work for us? What if we just put human cells inside the embryo and the embryo knows what do to?"
The study itself, outlined in Cell this week, spanned 4 years and included an estimated 1,500 pig embryos. Human stem cells were injected into the pig embryo before the embryo was implanted into the uterus of a female pig. After roughly a month, the cells had grown into "the precursors" of multiple types of tissue.
So pay up, Greg. They grew the first part-pig, part-human embryo. You lost the bet! Also, isn't science fucking cool? Make sure the White House hears you say that.