ArticleeLife2017
Addressing the ethical issues raised by synthetic human entities with embryo-like features.
Article in eLife, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 56 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Ethical, legal, regulatory, and policy issues concerning embryoids: a systematic review of the literature.Stem cell research & therapy · 2023Pooled it
- Organoids: a systematic review of ethical issues.Stem cell research & therapy · 2022Pooled it
- What counts as an embryo? : The regulatory status of stem cell-based embryo models in Asia.EMBO reports · 2026Article
- Morally relevant features warranting ethical oversight in human stem cell-based embryo models.Nature cell biology · 2026Review
- A guide to using embedded ethics in human stem-cell-based embryo model research.Nature cell biology · 2026Review
- Reply: Lung organoids: a new frontier in neonatology and paediatric respiratory medicine.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Article
- Human Stem Cell-Based Embryo Model Research: Ethics and Regulations.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Review
- Stem Cell and Synthetic Embryo Models: Advances, Applications, and Ethical Considerations.Stem cell reviews and reports · 2025Review
- The Ethics of Stem Cell-Based Embryo-Like Structures : A Focus Group Study on the Perspectives of Dutch Professionals and Lay Citizens.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2024Article
- Collaborative ethics: innovating collaboration between ethicists and life scientists.Nature methods · 2024Article
- The hope, hype and obstacles surrounding cell therapy.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2024Review
- Potentiality switches and epistemic uncertainty: the Argument from Potential in times of human embryo-like structures.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2024Article
- 'Ceci n'est pas un embryon?' The ethics of human embryo model research.Nature methods · 2023Article
- Distinct HAND2/HAND2-AS1 Expression Levels May Fine-Tune Mesenchymal and Epithelial Cell Plasticity of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Merits and challenges of iPSC-derived organoids for clinical applications.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Review
- Gene-repaired iPS cells as novel approach for patient withFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2023Article
- Knowledge graphs of ethical concerns of cerebral organoids.Cell proliferation · 2022Article
- Revisiting selected ethical aspects of current clinical in vitro fertilization (IVF) practice.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2022Review
- Addressing Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment in Public Advocacy and Policy Making on CRISPR/Cas-Based Human Genome Editing.Frontiers in research metrics and analytics · 2022Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The "14-day rule" for embryo research stipulates that experiments with intact human embryos must not allow them to develop beyond 14 days or the appearance of the primitive streak. However, recent experiments showing that suitably cultured human pluripotent stem cells can self-organize and recapitulate embryonic features have highlighted difficulties with the 14-day rule and led to calls for its reassessment. Here we argue that these and related experiments raise more foundational issues that cannot be fixed by adjusting the 14-day rule, because the framework underlying the rule cannot adequately describe the ways by which synthetic human entities with embryo-like features (SHEEFs) might develop morally concerning features through altered forms of development. We propose that limits on research with SHEEFs be based as directly as possible on the generation of such features, and recommend that the research and bioethics communities lead a wide-ranging inquiry aimed at mapping out solutions to the ethical problems raised by them.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.