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In a ground-breaking experiment, researchers have successfully created the first human-monkey chimera, Time reported.

The work, published in the journal Cell, describes the first embryo containing both human and monkey cells that were cultured for 20 days.

The research team was led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, who helped make a mixed-species embryo of a human and a pig in 2017.

"As we are unable to conduct certain types of experiments in humans, it is essential that we have better models to more accurately study and understand human biology and disease," he said in a press release about the study.

"An important goal of experimental biology is the development of model systems that allow for the study of human diseases under in vivo conditions."

The new study has sparked an ethics debate among some scientists concerned about creating embryos that are part human and part animal.