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Why it is important to study human–monkey embryonic chimeras in a dish

Nature Methods volume 19, pages 914–919 (2022)Cite this article

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The study of human–animal chimeras is fraught with technical and ethical challenges. In this Comment, we discuss the importance and future of human–monkey chimera research within the context of current scientific and regulatory obstacles.

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Fig. 1: Scheme of representative proposed in vitro experiments.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Olson for input and feedback.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Alejandro De Los Angeles, Alan Regenberg, Victoria Mascetti.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Alejandro De Los Angeles

  2. Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Alan Regenberg

  3. Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Victoria Mascetti

  4. The Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Nissim Benvenisty

  5. Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    George Church

  6. College of Life Sciences and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Hongkui Deng

  7. Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte

  8. State Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research, Institute of Primate Translational Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China

    Weizhi Ji, Yuyu Niu & Tan Tao

  9. Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Julian Koplin

  10. Biomedical Ethics Research Group, Mudoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Julian Koplin

  11. Epigenetics and Cell Fates Laboratory, A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore, Singapore

    Yuin-Han Loh & Tushar Warrier

  12. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Yuin-Han Loh

  13. NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Yuin-Han Loh

  14. Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Yuin-Han Loh

  15. Laboratory of Cell Fate Control, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China

    Duanqing Pei

  16. The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA

    Martin Pera

  17. Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Nam Pho

  18. Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

    Carlos Pinzon-Arteaga

  19. Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (ASHBi), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Mitinori Saitou

  20. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Mitinori Saitou

  21. Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Mitinori Saitou

  22. Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou International Bio Island, Guangzhou, China

    Jose C. R. Silva

  23. Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Alan Trounson

  24. Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Alan Trounson

  25. Institute for Cell Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Elias T. Zambidis

  26. Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Elias T. Zambidis

Authors
  1. Alejandro De Los Angeles
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  2. Alan Regenberg
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  8. Weizhi Ji
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  13. Martin Pera
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  14. Nam Pho
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  16. Mitinori Saitou
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  18. Tan Tao
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  19. Alan Trounson
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  20. Tushar Warrier
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  21. Elias T. Zambidis
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Contributions

This work is the product of extensive collaboration and deliberation among all the authors. A.D.L.A. conceived the original idea and wrote the original version of the manuscript. V.M., N.B., G.C., H.D., J.C.I.B., W.J., Y.N., D.P., M.P., N.P., C.P.-A., M.S., J.C.R.S., T.T., A.T., A.R., and E.T.Z. provided conceptual contributions and wrote, edited, and gave final approval to the manuscript. J.K., Y.-H.L., and T.W. helped with editing of the manuscript. A.R. and E.T.Z. provided important conceptual contributions to the final version of the manuscript and, together with A.D.L.A., took the lead in writing, revising, and editing the final versions of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alejandro De Los Angeles.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Methods thanks Kazuto Kato and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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De Los Angeles, A., Regenberg, A., Mascetti, V. et al. Why it is important to study human–monkey embryonic chimeras in a dish. Nat Methods 19, 914–919 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-022-01571-7

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