"El sueño de Tesla"

Desde el Pandemonium...
Un saludo a ti, lector, que te dispones a leer tan brevísimas líneas que de esta mente atormentada por la virtud humana logran surgir y plasmarse en estos lugares recónditos de la red mundial. Bien, ahora regresando al tema que nos compete, seguramente habrás notado que en los últimos años, las últimas noticias que del mundo occidental emergen, y que poco a poco han ido atrapando a un sinfín de mentes nuevas, neófitas e ignorantes (cabe hacer mención), son portadoras de augurios y malos presagios; pareciera que el fin está cerca (algo que a los miles de charlatanes y "brujos" hace más que felices). Esto no es del todo reciente (como se nos ha querido vender la idea, tal comerciantes en la Antigua Roma) ¡No mi querido lector! Esto no es nuevo. Es más, daré rienda suelta en otra ocasión para platicarte (o mejor dicho, recordarte) de lo que se ha tramado ya desde tiempos inmemorables... ¡El Nuevo Orden Mundial! Algo que pareciera ciencia ficción (rogaría al Dios de Adán y Eva que así fuese; pero la realidad se escapa de nuestras mortales vidas), pero nada de eso.
Ya me desvié del tema. Te traigo algo que como dije anteriormente, es de importancia y es real (siempre podrás tener en mí una prueba fehaciente y una confianza extrema de que quien esto escribe está comprometido con la lealtad, la verdad y los buenos principios existenciales. ¡Soy un científico! Lucharé por la verdad siempre). Nada menos que un proyecto de la que hasta el siglo pasado fuera la "Primera Potencia Mundial", y que ahora, se subleva ante el mundo entero, a través de una nueva guerra; a mi entender, se trataría de la II Guerra Fría (O Guerra Fría 2.0) dada por la ahora sí, TECNOLOGÍA FUTURISTA. ¿Y por qué digo ahora sí? Resulta que desde los tiempos del gran científico Nikola Tesla (Sí, sí, aquél que vivió bajo la sombra de T. Alva Edison) ya se categorizaba una nueva vertiente de ciencia: Geotecnología, basada, como su nombre lo indica, en las propiedades (y bondades) de "Gaia" (en Celta=Tierra).
Este proyecto americano, se sitúa en la tierra ártica de Alaska, cerca del monte Sanford. Y para no hacerte esto tedioso (tal costumbre mía) te diré que se plantea que el objetivo de este proyecto (hasta en su propia homepage puedes corroborarlo) es el de "manipular" el clima en diferentes (la que gustes) regiones del planeta, a través de la emisión de ondas (tal "Sueño de Tesla")
Chécate la webpage, y lo comentamos:

High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program

Human sperm created from embryonic stem cells

Human sperm have been created using embryonic stem cells for the first time in a scientific development which will lead researchers to a better understanding of the causes of infertility.

Researchers led by Professor Karim Nayernia at Newcastle University and the NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) have developed a new technique which has made the creation of human sperm possible in the laboratory.

The work is published today (8th July 2009) in the academic journal Stem Cells and Development.*

The NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) is a collaboration between Newcastle and Durham Universities, Newcastle NHS Foundation Trust and other partners.

Professor Nayernia says: “This is an important development as it will allow researchers to study in detail how sperm forms and lead to a better understanding of infertility in men – why it happens and what is causing it. This understanding could help us develop new ways to help couples suffering infertility so they can have a child which is genetically their own.”

“It will also allow scientists to study how cells involved in reproduction are affected by toxins, for example, why young boys with leukaemia who undergo chemotherapy can become infertile for life – and possibly lead us to a solution.”

The team also believe that studying the process of forming sperm could lead to a better understanding of how genetic diseases are passed on.

In the technique developed at Newcastle, stem cells with XY chromosomes (male) were developed into germline stem cells which were then prompted to complete meiosis - cell division with halving of the chromosome set. These were shown to produce fully mature, sperm called scientifically, In Vitro Derived sperm (IVD sperm).

In contrast, stem cells with XX chromosomes (female) were prompted to form early stage sperm, spermatagonia, but did not progress further. This demonstrates to researchers that the genes on a Y chromosome are essential for meiosis and for sperm maturation (see a video)

IVD sperm

The IVD sperm will not and cannot be used for fertility treatment. As well as being prohibited by UK law, the research team say fertilization of human eggs and implantation of embryos would hold no scientific merit for them as they want to study the process as a model for research.

“While we can understand that some people may have concerns, this does not mean that humans can be produced ‘in a dish’ and we have no intention of doing this. This work is a way of investigating why some people are infertile and the reasons behind it. If we have a better understanding of what’s going on it could lead to new ways of treating infertility,” adds Professor Nayernia.

Technique

The Newcastle University team have developed a method for establishing early stage sperm from human embryonic stem cells in the laboratory.

The embryonic stem cells were cultured in a new medium containing vitamin A derivative (retinoic acid), in a new technique established by the team. Based on this technique, the cells differentiated into germline stem cells.

These expressed a protein which was stained with a green fluorescent marker and they were separated out by FACSTM (Fluorescence-activated cell sorting) using a laser.

After further differentiation, these in vitro derived germline stem cells expressed markers which are specific to primordial germ cells, spermatogonial stem cells, meiotic (spermatocytes) and post meiotic germ cells (spermatids and sperm).

These results indicated maturation of the primodial germ cells to haploid male gametes – called IVD sperm - characterised by containing half a chromosome set (23 chromosomes).

Academic paper

Academic paper reference: Derivation of Human Sperm from Embryonic Stem Cells
Jae Ho Lee, Majlinda Lako, Lyle Armstrong, Mary Herbert, Manyu Li, Wolfgang Engel, David Elliot, Miodrag Stojkovic, John Parrington, Alison Murdoch, Tom Strachan, Karim Nayernia.

Published in: Stem Cells and Development, DOI:10.1089/scd.2009.0063*

Click here to view a video explaining the research or to read "Your questions answered".

*Subsequent to the posting of this press release the wording of the research paper is being reviewed and it has been temporarily withdrawn from publication. 23rd July 09.

published on: 15th July 2009

REFERENCE:

Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom, Telephone: (0191) 222 6000
From outside the UK dial +44 191 222 6000

Last updated 14 July, 2009 © 2011 Newcastle University

Desde el Pandemonium...

"In vitro production of functional sperm in cultured neonatal mouse testes"

Immature mouse testicles yield fully developed sperm in culture.

(By Janelle Weaver)

Researchers in Japan have made fertile mammalian sperm in a culture dish, a feat long thought to be impossible. The technique, reported today in Nature¹, could help to reveal the molecular steps involved in sperm formation and might even lead to treatments for male infertility.

Biologists have been trying to make sperm outside the body for almost a century. Failure has often struck at the stage of meiosis, a type of cell division during which paired chromosomes swap DNA and the number of chromosomes per cell is halved. The result of this process is sperm cells ready to fuse with an egg.

Takehiko Ogawa and colleagues at Yokohama City University discovered that the key to getting sperm through meiosis lay in a simple change to standard culture conditions.

"The report is quite exciting because it represents the fulfilment of a goal held by many reproductive biologists over many years," says Mary Ann Handel, an expert in reproductive genetics at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Culture shock

By trial and error, Ogawa's team worked out which culture methods allowed sperm in tissue fragments from neonatal mouse testes to mature. To track sperm development, they used a fluorescent protein that marked cells undergoing — or that had undergone — meiosis.

Initially, the researchers placed the fragments on a gel and soaked them in fetal bovine serum, a typical ingredient of cell cultures. But nothing they added to this mix worked, not even factors known to stimulate sperm maturation.

The authors' success came when they replaced the fetal bovine serum with a serum-free medium, KnockOut Serum Replacement, which is often used to grow embryonic stem cells.

After several weeks of bathing in this mixture, almost all tissue samples contained some cells with the same number of chromosomes found in sperm. Nearly half of the samples contained cells with flagella, tail-like projections that sperm use to swim. Sperm formation peaked after about a month, although it lasted for more than two months.

The researchers injected the sperm into egg cells. A few weeks later, surrogates delivered a dozen live, fertile offspring. The team also grew sperm from neonatal testis tissue that had been frozen for days or weeks.

Matter of time

Ali Honaramooz, a reproductive biologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, says that the technique could aid prepubescent boys about to undergo cancer therapies that destroy fertility. It could also protect the reproductive potential of endangered animals that might die before reaching sexual maturity, he adds.

The procedure will also be useful for studying the molecular events that underlie sperm production, says Martin Dym, a cell biologist at Georgetown University in Washington DC. But before the technique can be used in treatments for male infertility, researchers will have to generate millions of sperm cells and translate the work to humans, Dym adds.

Honaramooz says that is just a matter of time. "If the same methodology can be applied, with many minor changes, to other species, that's great," He says. "If not, then it would take almost the same amount of work, but at least now you know that eventually it's going to work."

REFERENCES:

1. Sato, T. et al. Nature 471, 504-507 (2011). | Link al artículo |

© 2011 Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved.