Silicon womb: human testing in the UK

It has been reported that trials of a silicon womb that holds test-tube embryos inside the womb to expose them to more natural conditions will shortly begin in the UK and It’s said that 40 women are signed up for testing starting today, but results aren’t expected for some time.

In standard IVF, eggs are harvested from a woman then they are fertilised in the lab and allowed to develop in an incubator for 2 to 5 days and then the healthiest embryos are chosen to be transferred into the uterus.

But with this new device it will allow embryos created in the lab to be incubated inside a perforated silicon container inserted into a woman’s own womb and after a few days, the capsule will then be recovered and some embryos are selected for implantation in the womb.

The silicon capsule is about 5 millimetres long and less than a millimetre wide.

After embryos have been loaded inside, the ends are sealed and the container is connected to a flexible wire that holds the device inside the uterus a thread trails through the cervix to allow it to be recovered later on.

Do you think that this is a good idea and would you use it?

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