Microscope image shows a macaque embryo with reprogrammed pluripotent human cells
The prestigious international scientific publication Nature has selected as one of the “most fascinating” images of the year 2021 that of a macaque embryo with pluripotent (reprogrammed) human cells, generated and kept in the laboratory for 19 days. An image captured by a microscope, the result of research directed by Dr. Juan Carlos Izpisua. The experiment, made known to the scientific community in April by the journal Science, provided very valuable information to advance research, promoted and funded by UCAM, whose objective is to generate human organs in pigs to transplant them to people with serious diseases.
In June of this year, the American weekly TIME already considered the generation of human organs in animals, under the direction of Juan Carlos Izpisua, as one of the ten most important health investigations of the year in the world. And previously, after the first results were published, it recognized the UCAM professor of Developmental Biology and professor at the Salk Institute of California as one of the 50 most prestigious scientists in the world in the field of health.
The World Health Organization estimates that 130,000 transplants are performed a year in the world, less than 10% of those necessary, so these new organs would prevent tens of thousands of patients on waiting lists from dying each year.
‘The best scientific images of 2021’, selected by the writing and art teams of ‘Nature’, correspond to major events and natural phenomena that occurred during the year on the planet, phenomena discovered by the scientific community and the most relevant research.
.