It becomes increasingly clear that stem cells are able to form remarkably complex structures in vitro, if they are handled right. In this month’s issue, two pieces raise the question of whether recent developments in methods for patterning embryonic stem cells in vitro raise potential ethical, regulatory or public perception concerns, or if they may do so in the future.
You can find the commentary from leading stem cell and developmental biologists here [https://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v12/n10/full/nmeth.3586.html] and the editorial here [https://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v12/n10/full/nmeth.3618.html].
We note that some of these matters were also brought up in a paper published at the end of last year (Cells Tissues Organs 2014;199(4):221-7).