Claim: Scientists grow viable vaginas from girls' own cells.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Vaginal transplantation
text: vagina to develop improperly, or sometimes not at all. Between 1 out of every 1,500 and 1 out of every 4,000 females are born with this condition. The four patients began treatment between May 2005 and August 2008. In each case, the medical research team began by taking a small sample of genital tissue from the teenager's vulva. The sample was used as a seed to grow additional tissue in the lab which was then placed in a vaginal shaped, biodegradable mold. Vaginal-lining cells were placed on the inside of the tube, while muscle cells were attached to the outside.

title: Müllerian agenesis
text: after the mother developed pre-eclampsia. Promising research include the use of laboratory-grown structures, which are less subject to the complications of non-vaginal tissue, and may be grown using the person's own cells as a culture source. The recent development of engineered vaginas using the patient's own cells has resulted in fully functioning vaginas capable of menstruation and orgasm in a number of patients showing promise of fully correcting this condition in some of the sufferers. The prevalence remains sparsely investigated. To date, two population-based nationwide studies have been conducted both estimating a prevalence about 1 in 5,000 live female births.

title: Vaginal transplantation
text: Five to six weeks later, the structure was implanted into the patients, where the tissue continued to grow and connected with the girls' circulatory and other bodily systems. After about eight years, all four patients reported normal function and pleasure levels during sexual intercourse according to the Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire, a validated self-report tool. No adverse results or complications were reported. In two of the four women, the vagina was attached to the uterus, making pregnancy possible. No pregnancies were reported, however, during the study period. Martin Birchall, who works on tissue engineering, but was not involved in

title: Genital regeneration
text: that were excised for the sake of the experiment. Autologous cells were attached to a three-dimensional collagen matrix. Once formed, the structure was attached and tested for functionality. An Italian doctor named Dr. Cinzia Marchese has successfully reconstructed the inner mucosal lining of congenitally deformed vaginas by using an enzyme to break down the abnormal lining, then inserting stem cells to remodel the walls and restore normal functionality. There are currently no therapies available for men attempting to clinically regenerate structures of the human penis. Also, for women there are no therapies that use autologous cells to regenerate the clitoris,

title: Lesbian utopia
text: with an available source of nutrients in which an embryo can develop into a fetus and gestate until childbirth. Scientists have created mouse pups from two female mice, including Kaguya. The trial was conducted by researchers from the Tokyo University of Agriculture, led by Dr. Tomohiro Kono. The research uncovered that by suppressing the activity of a certain hormone from the original mouse eggs, they could initiate growth of the eggs by using two sets of "female" DNA, by increasing the activity of another hormone contained within the egg. However, Dr. Komo has stated that the extremely low success rate

title: Lesbian utopia
text: fertility treatments, stating, "This is a very complicated thing. So no, It is impossible to do this experiment in a human. And I don't want to do it". However, some researchers still believe the methods could have potential applications in stem cell research. Scientists have also found a way to fertilise human eggs using genetic material from any cell in the body. This could eventually allow two or more females to conceive and bring a baby to term without male assistance. There have been some public health concerns amongst a vocal minority about the viability of the techniques put forward

title: Vaginal transplantation
text: after three years. In at least one case, a woman who received such a transplant was able to conceive and give birth. In 1981, a 12-year-old girl with vaginal aplasia received a vaginal wall implant from her mother. She became sexually active seven years later, without incident. At age 24, she conceived and carried a child to term. The child was born via cesarean section. In April 2014, a team of scientists led by Anthony Atala reported that they had successfully transplanted laboratory-grown vaginas into four female teenaged girls with a rare medical condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome that causes the

title: Reproductive technology
text: i.e., cells from an adult woman to make female sperm. In the two decades that followed, the idea of female sperm became more of a reality. In 1997, scientists partially confirmed such techniques by creating chicken female sperm in a similar manner. They did so by injecting blood stem cells from an adult female chicken into a male chicken's testicles. In 2004, other Japanese scientists created two female offspring by combining the eggs of two adult mice. In 2008, research was done specifically for methods on creating human female sperm using artificial or natural Y chromosomes and testicular transplantation. A

title: Evelyn Telfer
text: to maturity in the lab, to the point at which they can be fertilised. The research was the first successful attempt to grow fully mature human eggs, where previously it had only been achieved for mouse eggs. The technique has implications for fertility treatment, in particular in women undergoing in vitro fertilisation and women who had their ovaries removed before cancer treatment. Telfer was the project leader, and co-authored an article publishing the research in the medical journal Molecular Human Reproduction in March 2018. Evelyn Telfer Evelyn Telfer is a reproductive biologist and professor at the University of Edinburgh. She

title: Vaginal transplantation
text: the study, said it "addressed some of the most important questions facing translation of tissue engineering technologies." Commentary published by the National Health Service (NHS) called the study "an important proof of concept" and said it showed that tissue engineering had "a great deal of potential." However, the NHS also cautioned that the sample size was very small and further research was necessary to determine the general viability of the technique. The laboratory-grown autologous transplant technique could also be used on women who want reconstructive surgery due to cancer or other disease once the technique is perfected. However, more studies

title: Genital regeneration
text: of their genitalia (most notably soldiers in war), and men and women wishing to reverse forms of intentional modification such as circumcision. As is the case in most scientific pursuits, these accomplishments might be applied to other forms of regeneration and vice versa as scientists continue to study tissue engineering. In the last decade, there have been notable accomplishments in utilizing extracellular matrices (ECM) and stem cells to reconstruct lost tissue. These cover a range of structures including the genitals. Professor Atala and his group at Wake Forest University's Institute of Regenerative Medicine have successfully regenerated fully functioning rabbit penises

title: Female sperm
text: 1991 by injecting a woman's cells into a man's testicles, though the patent focused mostly on injecting altered male cells into a man's testes (to correct genetic diseases). In 1997, Japanese scientists partially confirmed such techniques by creating chicken female sperm in a similar manner. "However, the ratio of produced W chromosome-bearing (W-bearing) spermatozoa fell substantially below expectations. It is therefore concluded that most of the W-bearing PGC could not differentiate into spermatozoa because of restricted spermatogenesis." These simple transplantation methods follow from earlier observations by developmental biologists that germ stem cells are autonomous in the sense that they can

title: Micropenis
text: surgery to be recommended. This was especially likely if evidence suggested that response to additional testosterone and pubertal testosterone would be poor. With parental acceptance, the boy would be reassigned and renamed as a girl, and surgery performed to remove the testes and construct an artificial vagina. This was based on the now-questioned idea that gender identity was shaped entirely from socialization, and that a man with a small penis can find no acceptable place in society. Johns Hopkins Hospital, the center most known for this approach, performed twelve such reassignments from 1960 to 1980, most notably that of David

title: Georgios Papanikolaou
text: fact was recounted by Papanikolaou. In 1928 Papanikolaou told an incredulous audience of physicians about the noninvasive technique of gathering cellular debris from the lining of the vaginal tract and smearing it on a glass slide for microscopic examination as a way to identify cervical cancer. That year he had undertaken a study of vaginal fluid in women, in hopes of observing cellular changes over the course of a menstrual cycle. In female guinea pigs, Papanicolaou had already noticed cell transformation and wanted to corroborate the phenomenon in human females. It happened that one of Papanicolaou's human subjects was suffering

title: Anthony Atala
text: Medicine in 2004. Atala led the team that developed the first lab-grown organ, a bladder, to be implanted into a human. Along with Harvard University researchers and as described in the journal "Nature Biotechnology", he has announced that stem cells with enormous potential can be harvested from the amniotic fluid of pregnant women. These amniotic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they can be manipulated to differentiate into various types of mature cells that make up nerve, muscle, bone, and other tissues while avoiding the problems of tumor formation and ethical concerns that are associated with embryonic stem cells. With respect

title: Reproductive technology
text: UK-based group predicted they would be able to create human female sperm within five years. So far no conclusive successes have been achieved. In 2018 Chinese research scientists produced 29 viable mice offspring from two mother mice by creating sperm-like structures from haploid Embryonic stem cells using gene editing to alter imprinted regions of DNA. They were unable to get viable offspring from two fathers. Experts noted that there was little chance of these techniques being applied to humans in the near future. Many issues of reproductive technology have given rise to bioethical issues, since technology often alters the assumptions

title: Vaginal transplantation
text: will need to be conducted and the techniques further developed before commercial production can begin. Vaginal transplantation Vaginal transplantation is procedure whereby donated or laboratory-grown vagina tissue is used to create a 'neovagina'. It is most used in women who have vaginal aplasia (the congential absence of a vagina). Vaginal aplasia is a rare medical condition in which the vagina does not form properly before birth. Sufferers of the condition may have a partially formed vagina, or none at all. The condition is typically treated by reconstructive surgery. First a space is surgically created where the vagina would typically exist.

title: Vaginal transplantation
text: Vaginal transplantation Vaginal transplantation is procedure whereby donated or laboratory-grown vagina tissue is used to create a 'neovagina'. It is most used in women who have vaginal aplasia (the congential absence of a vagina). Vaginal aplasia is a rare medical condition in which the vagina does not form properly before birth. Sufferers of the condition may have a partially formed vagina, or none at all. The condition is typically treated by reconstructive surgery. First a space is surgically created where the vagina would typically exist. Then tissue from another part of the body is harvested, molded into the shape of

title: Martin Evans
text: modified offspring. In 1981, Evans and Kaufman published results for experiments in which they described how they isolated embryonic stem cells from mouse blastocysts and grew them in cell cultures. This was also achieved by Gail R. Martin, independently, in the same year. Eventually, Evans was able to isolate the embryonic stem cell of the early mouse embryo and establish it in a cell culture. He then genetically modified it and implanted it into adult female mice with the intent of creating genetically modified offspring, the forbearers of the laboratory mice that are considered so vital to medical research today.

title: J. Marion Sims
text: to see the vagina clearly. The distention inspired him to investigate fistula treatment. Soon after, he developed a precursor to the modern speculum, using a pewter spoon and strategically placed mirrors. From 1845 to 1849, Sims started doing experiments on slave women to treat vaginal problems, and added a second story to his hospital, for a total of eight beds. He developed techniques that have been the basis of modern vaginal surgery. A key comonent was silver wire, that he had a jeweler prepare. The Sims' vaginal speculum aided in vaginal examination and surgery. The rectal examination position, in which