Humster
A humster is a hybrid cell line made from a zona-free hamster oocyte fertilized with human sperm. It always consists of single cells, and cannot form a multi-cellular being. Humsters are usually destroyed before they divide into two cells; if isolated and left alone to divide, they would still be unviable.
Humsters are routinely created mainly for two reasons:
- To avoid legal issues with working with pure human embryonic stem cell lines.
- To assess the viability of human sperm for in vitro fertilization