About Us

Laser Focus World is an industry bedrock—first published in 1965 and still going strong. We publish original articles about cutting-edge advances in lasers, optics, photonics, sensors, and quantum technologies, as well as test and measurement, and the shift currently underway to usher in the photonic integrated circuits, optical interconnects, and copackaged electronics and photonics to deliver the speed and efficiency essential for data centers of the future.

Our 80,000 qualified print subscribers—and 130,000 12-month engaged online audience—trust us to dive in and provide original journalism you won’t find elsewhere covering key emerging areas such as laser-driven inertial confinement fusion, lasers in space, integrated photonics, chipscale lasers, LiDAR, metasurfaces, high-energy laser weaponry, photonic crystals, and quantum computing/sensors/communications. We cover the innovations driving these markets.

Laser Focus World is part of Endeavor Business Media, a division of EndeavorB2B.

Laser Focus World Membership

Never miss any articles, videos, podcasts, or webinars by signing up for membership access to Laser Focus World online. You can manage your preferences all in one place—and provide our editorial team with your valued feedback.

Magazine Subscription

Can you subscribe to receive our print issue for free? Yes, you sure can!

Newsletter Subscription

A Laser Focus World newsletter subscription is free to qualified professionals:

The Daily Beam

Showcases the newest content from Laser Focus World, including photonics- and optics-based applications, components, research, and trends. (Daily)

Product Watch

The latest in products within the photonics industry. (9x per year)

Bio & Life Sciences Product Watch

The latest in products within the biophotonics industry. (4x per year)

Laser Processing Product Watch

The latest in products within the laser processing industry. (3x per year)

Get Published!

If you’d like to write an article for us, reach out with a short pitch to Sally Cole Johnson: [email protected]. We love to hear from you.

Photonics Hot List

Laser Focus World produces a video newscast that gives a peek into what’s happening in the world of photonics.

Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast

Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast dives deep into the fascinating world of photonics. Our weekly episodes feature interviews and discussions with industry and research experts, providing valuable perspectives on the issues, technologies, and trends shaping the photonics community.

Social Media

Bluesky • Facebook • Instagram • LinkedIn • YouTube

Meet the Laser Focus World Team

Editorial

Sales

Editorial Advisory Board

  • Professor Andrea M. Armani, University of Southern California
  • Ruti Ben-Shlomi, Ph.D., LightSolver
  • James Butler, Ph.D., Hamamatsu
  • Natalie Fardian-Melamed, Ph.D., Columbia University
  • Justin Sigley, Ph.D., AmeriCOM
  • Professor Birgit Stiller, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and Leibniz University of Hannover
  • Professor Stephen Sweeney, University of Glasgow
  • Mohan Wang, Ph.D., University of Oxford
  • Professor Xuchen Wang, Harbin Engineering University
  • Professor Stefan Witte, Delft University of Technology
My Watchlist
Indicators
Industrial Laser Index
Markets
Stocks
ETFs
Tools
Markets:
Overview
News
Currencies
International
Treasuries

Cloning: Philosophical, Technological, and Medical Challenges and Opportunities.

By: PR Distribution

New York, New York, United States - 12-10-2022 (PR Distribution™) -

Science came very close to making human cloning technically possible. But does it mean this technology will soon be institutionalized?

Here we explain how modern cloning methods can help people to live longer and what pitfalls this technology may have. 

Therapeutic cloning

Therapeutic cloning, used in biomedicine to culture stem cells and discover therapies for incurable diseases, deserves special attention. This cloning type is called this way because, throughout the first two weeks, embryonic cells can transform into specific tissue cells of the heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys, and other organs. Those tissues can be used for treating insulin-dependent diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, heart, kidney, liver, bone, blood disorders, and other diseases.

Reproductive cloning 

Reproductive cloning is a laboratory method of creating a genetically identical copy of any organism. 

This type of cloning can be of real practical value. In agriculture, for instance, it enables farmers to get animals or plants with the right parameters, such as potatoes resistant to Colorado beetles, wheat that can be harvested several times a year, or cows producing record amounts of milk. Besides, cloning experiments help to treat various animal or plant diseases, as new vaccines and medications can be tested on the artificial "doubles". 

Technological aspect

For a long time, scientists struggled with another challenge: they were looking for ways to transform one “adult” cell into several cell types (e.g., embryonic and extraembryonic) and then put them together as a whole.

In 2019, Spanish biologist Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte became the first researcher who managed to resolve this task and created chimeric human and monkey embryos. The researcher reprogrammed an adult mouse cell and multiplied it to get a culture of embryonic stem cells. After that, the culture was reprogrammed again and returned to the state, from which it could develop into either embryonic or non-embryonic cells. Belmonte then applied a signaling pathway that dictated to the cells what to do; the resulting formation — a blastocyst-like blastoid — was successfully implanted into a mouse uterus. In other words, the Spanish scientist demonstrated the third type of animal cloning. 

Belmonte's method was adopted (this time using human cells) by researchers from Australia and Texas and scientists at the California Institute of Technology; the latter published the preprint of their study on the biorXiv portal. All those groups successfully developed structures with morphology and gene expression similar to human blastocysts.

Since the law forbids implanting those formations into a living woman's uterus to analyze their viability, the scientists performed their tests in vitro. The observation took only fourteen days, but it revealed that artificial embryos undergo the same development stages as live ones. 

Philosophical challenges of human cloning

Human cell cloning remains a complicated issue: opponents of biotechnology keep saying that it results in ending a new life. Besides, nuclear transfer produces a living organism, whose status has not been defined in any legal system in the world.

As for therapeutic cloning, nowadays scientists are allowed to grow a human embryo for fourteen days only. After that, the embryo develops the primitive streak, considered to be the precursor to the central nervous system.

In 1998, twenty-four out of forty-three Council of Europe member states signed the Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being that imposed a stringent ban on human cloning. As of now, this is the only international legal act regulating that matter. Meanwhile, legislative restrictions on human cloning are provisioned in more than seventy countries.

Thus, creating human clones is not allowed anywhere in the world; cloning of organs also remains forbidden in most countries. In any case, before the first human clone is born, humanity will need to address numerous ethical and legal dilemmas, while keeping in mind that there is the treatment of severe diseases and extension of human life on the other side of the scale.

Rustam Gilfanov is a private investor, philanthropist and a venture partner of the LongeVC fund.

Media Contacts:

Company Name: Blacklight
Full Name: Vlad
Phone: +7 499 340 33 83
Email Address: Send Email
Website: https://blacklight.ru/

For the original news story, please visit https://www.prdistribution.com/news/cloning-philosophical-technological-and-medical-challenges-and-opportunities/9408344.

More News

View More
After the Fed's Rate Cut, PNC Could See a Mortgage Refinance Boom
Via MarketBeat
Topics Economy
Tickers PNC
AIRO Group's Pullback: An Undervalued Growth Opportunity?
Via MarketBeat
Topics Supply Chain
Tickers AIRO
Caterpillar Stock Hits All-Time High—Is There More Room to Run?
Via MarketBeat
Topics Artificial Intelligence Economy World Trade
Tickers CAT
Berkshire-Backed Lennar Slides After Weak Q3 Earnings
Via MarketBeat
Topics ETFs
Tickers BRK-A BRK-B LEN
Analysts Turn Bullish on Hershey—Is Pepsi the Next Value Play?
Via MarketBeat
Tickers GS HSY PEP
Stock Quote API & Stock News API supplied by www.cloudquote.io
Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes.
By accessing this page, you agree to the following
Privacy Policy and Terms Of Service.