Redefining reproduction

Last year was a significant year for reproductive biology research, with the creation of fertile mouse eggs from skin cells in a Japanese lab. Notably, the mouse eggs produced by Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi and his team from Kyushu University went on to form healthy offspring when fertilized and implanted in surrogate mothers - a promising development for the future of in vitro fertilisation technology for people with fertility problems. In another advance, Dr Anthony Perry (University of Bath) and colleagues produced fertile mice offspring by fertilizing abnormal ‘parthenogenote‘ embryos, containing only the mother's genes, created by artificially triggering mouse egg cells to begin dividing on their own. Helen Albert speaks to both researchers about their work and its implications for the future.