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Research on embryo-like structures struggles to win US government funding

Biologists say they need clearer guidelines on funding rules for this nascent field.
  1. Nidhi Subbaraman
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Scientists can now create clumps of cells that resemble human embryos, raising hopes that they could study the elusive first stages of human development while avoiding the ethical concerns that make it difficult to study actual human embryos. But as these embryo models — in which human stem cells are transformed into embryo-like structures whose growth mirrors more advanced stages of embryo development — grow in popularity, US researchers say they are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain federal funding for such work.

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Nature 577, 459-460 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00127-z

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