The decision by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) means that researchers from Kings College London and Newcastle University will be able to conduct stem cell research and create embryos which could lead to new treatments for a range of diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
"The HFEA License Committee determined that the two applications satisfied all the requirements of the law and has now offered one-year research licenses to the two applicants, subject to a series of detailed conditions in each case," the regulator said on its website on Thursday.
The embryos will be more than 99 % human and must be destroyed after 14 days.
The move came after U.K. ministers had proposed outlawing such work in response to unfavorable public opinion. In December 2006, then-public health minister, Caroline Flint, released a policy document recommending that animal-human hybrid embryos be banned.
However, a public consultation conducted by the HFEA showed that 61 % of respondents agreed with the creation of the controversial embryos, and the U.K. fertility regulator subsequently gave the research the green light.
The first human-animal embryos were created in 2003, when Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University fused human cells with rabbit eggs.
