Drugs From Eggs?

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have hatched the first-ever bird from an artificial eggshell, made from a glass cup internally coated with a layer of fluoride resin.

The success of this technology paves the way for the mass production of useful substances such as insulin and other hormones in genetically-engineered chicken eggs. Previous genetic engineering of a bird required the original eggshell to be cracked to enable the introduction of the foreign gene, followed by artificial incubation via transplantation into another eggshell. This procedure has a death rate of almost 40%.

The new method transfers the genetically-engineered embryo to the man-made container complete with a layer of crushed eggshell. After 18 days of incubation, the chick will hatch. The success rate to date is only 12%, but it is thought that, with thorough investigations into the optimal conditions required for hatching, and if the difficulties of compatibility between the chick and the eggshell can be resolved, researchers would be able to reach the 90% hatch rate seen in natural conditions.