Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Recently, human monkey hybrids have been made. These monkey embryos contained human cells and might be a valuable tool for solving current organ transplant shortages but at the same time raise many ethical questions. So how are human monkey hybrids made? And do human monkey hybrids really help to grow organs in the laboratory?
🔬 Subscribe for more awesome biomedical research: bit.ly/2SRMqhC
🔬Tweet me your science questions:
Twitter: twitter.com/CSteinek
00:00-1:02 Intro
1:02-4:25 How Human Monkey Hybrids were Made
4:25-5:45 Hybrids can make Organs
5:45-9:00 Why Human Monkey Hybrids are Controversial
Hybrids (or chimeras) are animal or plants which contain DNA from two species. We find animal hybrids in nature but also can make animal animal or human animal hybrids in the laboratory. In order to make human animal hybrids we need to inject embryonic stem cells from one species into the blastocyst (early development) of another species. The stem cells communicate with each other and form organs together. This is how human monkey hybrids have been made (although induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs were made). A few weeks ago, human monkey hybrids were made using human induced pluripotent stem cells and monkey blastocysts. These human monkey hybrids survived for a few days. The goal is to make human monkey hybrids containing induced pluripotent stem cells for organ transplantation.
Other animal animal hybrids have been very successful. Rat mouse hybrids have been used to grow a mouse pancreas which restored blood glucose levels in diabetic mice. Other animal hybrids (which contained embryonic stem cells) have been made to grow hearts in rats.
Human monkey hybrids remain controversial. Although no human embryonic stem cells (only induced pluripotent stem cells) are used, we do not know whether human brain cells or gametes could form in monkeys. This is why human monkey hybrids are forbidden in many countries. Let's see whether human monkey hybrids can be used to grow human organs to solve the organ shortage crisis!
For your reading:
Tan, T., Wu, J., Si, C., Dai, S., Zhang, Y., Sun, N., ... & Belmonte, J. C. I. (2021). Chimeric contribution of human extended pluripotent stem cells to monkey embryos ex vivo. Cell, 184(8), 2020-2032.
De Los Angeles, A., Pho, N., & Redmond Jr, D. E. (2018). Focus: Medical Technology: Generating Human Organs via Interspecies Chimera Formation: Advances and Barriers. The Yale journal of biology and medicine, 91(3), 333.
Yamaguchi, T., Sato, H., Kato-Itoh, M., Goto, T., Hara, H., Sanbo, M., ... & Nakauchi, H. (2017). Interspecies organogenesis generates autologous functional islets. Nature, 542(7640), 191-196.
Images:
Some pictures were derived from Servier Medical Art by Servier A service to medicine provided by Les Laboratoires Servier (CC BY 3.0). You can find over 3000 free medical images here: smart.servier.com
Thumbnail: A blastocyst of the monkey–human chimaeras. Weizhi Ji, Kunming University of Science and Technology
Heart by Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator; C. Carl Jaffe, MD, cardiologist., CC BY 2.5
Embryo by lunar caustic, CC BY 2.0
Internal organs by William Creswell, CC BY 2.0
Music:
Title: Danse Morialta by Kevin MacLeod (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0)
Title: Bread (Prod. by Lukrembo) jazz type beat “marshmallow”
Title: Rudolph by Lukrembro
Title: Art of Silence by Uniq
Title: Outside Visitors, The Illstrumentalist
About Clemens Steinek:
CLEMENS STEINEK is a PhD student/youtuber (LifeLabLearner) who is currently conducting stem cell research in Germany.
Recently, human monkey hybrids have been made. These monkey embryos contained human cells and might be a valuable tool for solving current organ transplant shortages but at the same time raise many ethical questions. So how are human monkey hybrids made? And do human monkey hybrids really help to grow organs in the laboratory?
🔬 Subscribe for more awesome biomedical research: bit.ly/2SRMqhC
🔬Tweet me your science questions:
Twitter: twitter.com/CSteinek
00:00-1:02 Intro
1:02-4:25 How Human Monkey Hybrids were Made
4:25-5:45 Hybrids can make Organs
5:45-9:00 Why Human Monkey Hybrids are Controversial
Hybrids (or chimeras) are animal or plants which contain DNA from two species. We find animal hybrids in nature but also can make animal animal or human animal hybrids in the laboratory. In order to make human animal hybrids we need to inject embryonic stem cells from one species into the blastocyst (early development) of another species. The stem cells communicate with each other and form organs together. This is how human monkey hybrids have been made (although induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs were made). A few weeks ago, human monkey hybrids were made using human induced pluripotent stem cells and monkey blastocysts. These human monkey hybrids survived for a few days. The goal is to make human monkey hybrids containing induced pluripotent stem cells for organ transplantation.
Other animal animal hybrids have been very successful. Rat mouse hybrids have been used to grow a mouse pancreas which restored blood glucose levels in diabetic mice. Other animal hybrids (which contained embryonic stem cells) have been made to grow hearts in rats.
Human monkey hybrids remain controversial. Although no human embryonic stem cells (only induced pluripotent stem cells) are used, we do not know whether human brain cells or gametes could form in monkeys. This is why human monkey hybrids are forbidden in many countries. Let's see whether human monkey hybrids can be used to grow human organs to solve the organ shortage crisis!
For your reading:
Tan, T., Wu, J., Si, C., Dai, S., Zhang, Y., Sun, N., ... & Belmonte, J. C. I. (2021). Chimeric contribution of human extended pluripotent stem cells to monkey embryos ex vivo. Cell, 184(8), 2020-2032.
De Los Angeles, A., Pho, N., & Redmond Jr, D. E. (2018). Focus: Medical Technology: Generating Human Organs via Interspecies Chimera Formation: Advances and Barriers. The Yale journal of biology and medicine, 91(3), 333.
Yamaguchi, T., Sato, H., Kato-Itoh, M., Goto, T., Hara, H., Sanbo, M., ... & Nakauchi, H. (2017). Interspecies organogenesis generates autologous functional islets. Nature, 542(7640), 191-196.
Images:
Some pictures were derived from Servier Medical Art by Servier A service to medicine provided by Les Laboratoires Servier (CC BY 3.0). You can find over 3000 free medical images here: smart.servier.com
Thumbnail: A blastocyst of the monkey–human chimaeras. Weizhi Ji, Kunming University of Science and Technology
Heart by Patrick J. Lynch, medical illustrator; C. Carl Jaffe, MD, cardiologist., CC BY 2.5
Embryo by lunar caustic, CC BY 2.0
Internal organs by William Creswell, CC BY 2.0
Music:
Title: Danse Morialta by Kevin MacLeod (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0)
Title: Bread (Prod. by Lukrembo) jazz type beat “marshmallow”
Title: Rudolph by Lukrembro
Title: Art of Silence by Uniq
Title: Outside Visitors, The Illstrumentalist
About Clemens Steinek:
CLEMENS STEINEK is a PhD student/youtuber (LifeLabLearner) who is currently conducting stem cell research in Germany.
