for the future scientists out there

[bballshorty]

I believe in science, and I believe that someone will make this possible sometime in the future.

So, have you heard of in vitro fertilization? It is used to treat infertility or reproduction problems. Say, for example, that you're a FTM who marries a woman and you want to have kids with her. I have this crazy idea of taking an egg from each partner (assuming the ftm has found a way to preserve the eggs or hasn't had it removed) and either

A) find a way to fertilize one egg with the other egg, or

B) create a vessel that imitates (or imitates the function of) a sperm and put one partner's DNA into the synthesized sperm, then attempt to fertilize the egg, or

C) find a way to insert the DNA into an egg and trigger the same response a sperm would when the egg and sperm are joined

D) empty a sperm of its DNA without destroying it, inject DNA extracted from an egg in there, and fertilize the other egg

This would require more detailed research into the process of fertilization, more specifically the complete functions of the egg and the sperm and the sperm-egg interaction. It would also require techniques such as complete DNA extraction without damaging the DNA, sperm synthesis, a way to stimulate responses in an egg the way sperm would, and possibly many more...

It will probably be extremely controversial, but I refuse to let people-who-can't-mind-their-own-businesses stop me. One suggestion for studying these processes is to study them while doing in vitro fertilization for couples instead of fertilizing and then destroying the product, as it will be VERY controversial, even amongst the trans crowd.

*NOTE* you will only be having daughters with this process if you're a ftm. and for mtf, we will be trying to synthesize/imitate an egg

[Beth Andrea]

if you're a ftm. and for mtf, we will be trying to synthesize/imitate an egg

I'd think one could take an egg, remove its DNA "half", and replace it with the DNA "half" from a sperm...then fertilize it with a sperm from another donor.

Unless the DNA "halves" are different between eggs and sperm?

[Felix]

I'm a future/former scientist and I don't have any problematic emotional reaction to this, and it is interesting, but as far as genetics goes we're still working on alzheimer's and breast cancer and stuff. Also I can't imagine getting NIH funding for this, so if you're in the U.S. you'd probably have to work with pharmaceutical companies to get grants. That adds another layer of complication and interferes with the credibility of whatever you publish. Idk. I do think the ideas are worth playing with and building on, but I'm not sure who you could get to step forward and do it.

[Cindy]

Virtually all of that work in humans is currently banned. It does work in animals BTW and technically it is no big deal anymore, in fact it is commonplace in many labs.

[Felix]

Virtually all of that work in humans is currently banned. It does work in animals BTW and technically it is no big deal anymore, in fact it is commonplace in many labs.

This. We have a hard time with anything that even has the word "cloning" in it. I learned quick to just be vague about what I did every day.

[Cindy]

So true, as you know there is a whole code of secret words that ethics committees can never be allowed to understand

[Jamie D]

Read When It Changed by Joanna Russ

It is older sci-fi about an all-female off-earth colony (the males all died off from disease), isolated for hundreds of years.

[King Malachite]

These ideas seem promising.  I've read before that genetic females contain the x sperm chromosome in bone marrow.  Regardless of the procedure, it sure does beat my proposed "zap the living crap out of it until something works" method.

[bballshorty]

I'm a future/former scientist and I don't have any problematic emotional reaction to this, and it is interesting, but as far as genetics goes we're still working on alzheimer's and breast cancer and stuff. Also I can't imagine getting NIH funding for this, so if you're in the U.S. you'd probably have to work with pharmaceutical companies to get grants. That adds another layer of complication and interferes with the credibility of whatever you publish. Idk. I do think the ideas are worth playing with and building on, but I'm not sure who you could get to step forward and do it.

I suggest a few of us get crazy rich and fund this research =P