Scientists say the technique could overcome infertility due to old age or disease, by using almost any cell in the body at the starting point for life.
US scientists have for the first time made early-stage human embryos by manipulating DNA taken from people's skin cells and then fertilising it with sperm.
The Oregon Health and Science University Research Team's technique takes the nucleus, which houses a copy of the entire genetic code needed to build the body, then places it inside a donor egg that has been stripped of its genetic instructions.
The technique could overcome infertility due to old age or disease, by using almost any cell in the body at the starting point for life.
It could even allow same-sex couples to have a genetic-related child.
The method requires significant refinement, which could take a decade, before a fertility clinic could even consider using it.
Experts said this is an impressive breakthrough, but there needed to be an open discussion with the public about what science was making possible.
So far, the technique is like the one used to create Dolly the Sheep, the world's first-cloned mammal, born back in 1996.
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