DAILY STAR
Scientists have managed to “grow a pair” – literally.
Boffins at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have grown what they call “laboratory testicles”, which they hope could help solve male fertility problems. The testicles are vital in the production of sperm and a hormone called testosterone.
If they don’t develop or work properly, it can lead to disorders of sex development (DSD) and male infertility, an issue that affects one in 12 men worldwide. Dr. Nitzan Gonen, a researcher who specialises in fetal sex determination, together with research students Aviya Stopel, Cheli Lev and Stav Dahari, succeeded in creating the “laboratory testicles”.
They believe their creation will help us understand more about how sex is determined and may provide answers to male infertility. Dr Gonen saod: “Artificial testicles are a promising model for basic research on testicle development and function, which can be translated into therapeutic applications for disorders of sexual development and infertility.”
The artificial testicles created in Dr. Gonen’s lab at the Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences and the Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials at Bar-Ilan University, are testis organoids – tiny, man-made organs made from real mouse testis.
