http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/story_15558.asp
Scientists take men out of baby makingAustralian scientists may have discovered a revolutionary technique that could allow women to have babies without the involvement of men.
The Monash University researchers believe they have found a way to fertilise a woman's egg with cells from any part of the human body, including those from another woman.
The technique, which was widely reported in British newspapers, could allow lesbian couples to have a child who was genetically their own.
The research, which complements efforts to enable women to "reprogram" donated eggs with their own genetic recipe, was originally intended to help couples to have babies that are their own genetic offspring even when the man has no sperm or sperm-making cells.
But the researchers say the sperm-free technique could, in theory at least, allow a lesbian couple to have a baby with one woman contributing an egg and the other a cell to fertilise it.
Both partners would be its natural parents.
Researcher Dr Orly Lacham-Kaplan said the process mimicked nature.
"This was similar to an embryo derived from fertilisation by sperm," she said.
The team has used a cell taken from the body of a man to successfully fertilise mouse eggs, which have developed relatively normally in the laboratory and are almost ready to be transplanted into surrogate mice.
Once any mice offspring have been born, the team will test their behaviour and ability to reproduce and give birth to a new healthy generation.
But there are theoretical problems to overcome in combining the genes of two women, because aspects of development are controlled by a paternal gene, when a maternal copy is turned off, and vice versa, in a process called imprinting.
"But we have no proof yet that it is or is not a problem," Dr Lacham-Kaplan said.
Shade's of 2 Timothy 3:13??
Where's the fun in that?