"He is on a decades-long quest to grow eggs and sperm in the laboratory. Hayashi wants to understand the fundamental biology of these reproductive cells. But, if he succeeds, it could forever alter how humans reproduce. Even for a scientist known for extreme doggedness, it has been a tortuous road. It has taken Hayashi to some strange places: his lab grows fragments of faux ovaries and testes in dishes and has produced mice with two fathers and no mother."
"Every paper he publishes brings e-mails from people clamouring for help with their fertility. "I tell them, 'This is still experimental', Hayashi says. "But sometimes, I can't respond. There are too many." The work that Hayashi and others in the field are doing could offer fresh hope to people struggling with infertility, and to same-sex couples who want children who are genetically related to both partners."
Katsuhiko Hayashi has pursued growing eggs and sperm in the laboratory for decades. His lab grows fragments of faux ovaries and testes and has produced mice with two fathers and no mother. Demand is high as people contact the lab seeking fertility help. Experts caution that translating rodent results to humans remains distant and clinically premature. Researchers see interim applications such as supplying human gametes for drug and toxicity testing and for studying developmental causes of infertility. The work could offer hope to infertile individuals and same-sex couples, but technical, regulatory, and ethical hurdles remain.
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