Jacob Hanna

Jacob H. Hanna (Arabic: Yaqub or Yaoub; born 26 August 1979) is a Palestinian Arab-Israeli biologist who is working as a professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. An expert in embryonic stem cell research, he is most recognized for developing the first ''bona fide'' synthetic embryo models (also known as "complete embryo models") from stem cells in the petri dish in mice and humans.

To achieve this, he first developed a technique for extended culturing mouse embryos outside the uterus (''ex utero'') in 2021 capturing development from before gastrulation until late organogenesis outside the uterus, subsequently applying his technique for making the first synthetic complete embryo models of mice in 2022, and then of human in 2023 that can be made solely from embryonic pluripotent stem cells and outside the womb.

Hanna pioneered the extended static and dynamic post-implantation ex utero embryo growth platform that was critical for enabling the synthetic complete embryo model establishment, and also pioneered developing the technology to generate alternative naive-like and naive pluripotent states in humans, that correspond to more early stages in development and retain an enhanced potential to make essential extra-embryonic tissue (placenta and yolk-sac), which proved essential for generating the first complete synthetic embryo models by his team and solely from such naive pluripotent cells. Provided by Wikipedia