Culture | Biology

Siddhartha Mukherjee’s new book is a tour d’horizon of cell theory

He uses examples from his own medical career to underline the importance of cellular understanding

- Vancouver, Canada -20220316-VIDEO AVAILABLE: CONTACT INFO@COVERMG.COMIn a world first, scientists from the University of British Columbia in Canada have 3D printed human testicle cells - ones which show early signs of producing sperm.In testicles, sperm is produced by tiny tubes known as seminiferous tubules. In severe forms of male infertility, known as non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), no sperm is found in ejaculate due to diminished sperm.While in some cases doctors can help NOA patients by performing surgery to find extremely rare sperm, Dr. Flannigan says this procedure is only successful about half the time. Those failed by this are the patients Dr. Flannigan?s team is hoping to help.For the recent study, the researchers performed a biopsy to collect stem cells from the testicles of a patient living with NOA. The cells were then grown and 3D printed onto a petri dish into a hollow tubular structure that resembles the sperm-producing seminiferous tubules.Twelve days after printing, the team found that the cells had survived. Incredibly, they had matured into several of the specialised cells involved in sperm production and were showing a significant improvement in spermatogonial stem cell maintenance ? both early signs of sperm producing capabilities. The team is now working to ?coach? the printed cells into producing sperm. To do this, they?ll expose the cells to different nutrients and growth factors and fine-tune the structural arrangement to facilitate cell-to-cell interaction.If they can get the cells to produce sperm, those sperm could potentially be used to fertilise an egg by in vitro fertilisation, providing a new fertility treatment option for couples.Dr. Flannigan?s research program has also been shedding new light on the genetic and molecular mechanisms that contribute to NOA. They?ve been using various single cell sequencing techniques to understand the gene expression and characteristics of each individual cell, then a

The Song of the Cell. By Siddhartha Mukherjee. Scribner; 496 pages; $26.99. Bodley Head; £22

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Facts of life”

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