The technology of ectogenesis isn’t new to science that has seen various experiments of successful extra-uterine animal birth. Despite the fact that experiments on human embryos are forbidden, the possibility of a totally artificial childbirth has brought warnings that it could completely change our social reality.
Chinese scientists have developed an AI robot system that takes care of embryos in artificial wombs with efficiency unattainable by humans. Its main goal is to facilitate the cultivation of animal embryos for scientific purposes, but in theory such innovation can be used for human embryos, according to project’s study, published in the Journal of Biomedical Engineering.
Scientists from the Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology have already tested the operation of the robot on mouse embryos. The institute’s artificial womb consist of several containers with a nutrient mixture in which embryos are placed. Previously, researchers had to manually track and document embryos’ condition and adjust the operation of the robot.
The AI robot nanny was said to be monitoring the embryos around the clock, making ultra-clear images of them through a system of sensors and lenses, and as well as regulating in real time the temperature, air supply, water and nutrition. The AI also indicates which embryos develop incorrectly or die so that it can be removed from the artificial uterus in a timely manner.
The researchers hope that the technology would help in studying fetal development and the formation of birth defects.
Scientists throughout the world have made a tangible progress in creating a full-fledged artificial uterus. In 2019, researchers from Beijing were able to bring a fertilized monkey egg to the stage of organ formation without mother’s body. Israeli biologists also have successfully grown embryos of mice up to half of the gestation period.
Nevertheless, clinical trials involving human babies are a long way off, according to experts. Currently the technology of an artificial womb is seen as tool to address prematurity by a way of not keeping babies in open environment, but in conditions that simulate uterus. Still, the is much research needed to implement such innovations.
“Anyone who tells you they are going to be doing this in two years either has a wealth of data that is not in the public domain or is being a bit sensationalist,” said Matt Kemp, head of perinatal lab at the Women & Infants Research Foundation (WIRF) in Western Australia. “All the experiments to date have been done on foetuses that come from healthy pregnancies.”
According to him, “that’s simply not the case for a 21- or 22-week human foetus. These are not going to be healthy babies. Getting this into clinical use is going to be incredibly difficult.”
