Earlier this month, Bryan Johnson revealed he has autoimmune gastritis, which he described as an "incurable" disease that leads to his stomach "eating itself." Now, Johnson, who's become famous for his biohacking pursuits, claims he has "cloned" himself as a newborn to harvest new organs, do blood transfusions and other health measures.
"This baby-bryan lives in a petri dish for now," he wrote in a social media post on July 21. "This may be scary to some people…a dystopian future. But, for others, they will see it as the inevitable future of health."
Biology experts say Johnson's latest attention-grabbing development isn't a "clone."
In a video posted to Instagram, Alex Dainis, who holds a doctorate in genetics, explained what Johnson likely did
was create iPSCs, which stands for "induced pluripotent stem cells." This starts by taking cells, like skin or blood samples, from an adult and introducing molecules that turn them into something that looks like embryonic stem cells, she explained.
"They're not quite the same thing, but now they're pretty malleable cells, and you can use a number of different protocols to turn them forwards again into lots of different cell types in the body," she said, explaining she used these in her research when testing therapeutics for heart disease.
They're cells that are as "genetically similar to your patients as possible," she added, but they're "not clones," just "very useful tools."
I just cloned myself...as a newborn
— Bryan Johnson (@bryan_johnson) July 21, 2026
With this clone, I can:
+ become my own blood boy
+ test therapies on the clone
+ grow organs for transplantation
+ develop new treatments
+ inject young cells
This baby-bryan lives in a petri dish for now.
This may be scary to some… pic.twitter.com/Ved8ij9Col
Dr. Danielle Spice, a molecular biologist, agreed that Johnson's "clone" is actually iPSC technology.
"I genuinely believe that iPSCs are the next frontier of medicine," she said in a post. "But are we really at the stage where we can say that we're cloning people, that we can make entire organs out of iPSCs? No, we can't."
So, while Johnson's claims that he can use this technology to "test therapies" and "develop new treatments" is realistic, his other claims − including becoming his own "blood boy" and growing organs for transplantation − aren't, experts say.
For example, the idea of using iPSCs to grow organs for people is "incredible," but "so hard," Dainis said.
"We're currently able to make organoids, which are sort of like organ-like small balls of cells, but organs are such complex structures," she said. "Is it possible that in the future we'll be able to make organs from iPSCs? Maybe."
Spice added there are lots of ongoing clinical trials for using iPSC-derived cells for Parkinson's, heart failure, blindness and other diseases − but when it comes to personalized stem cells for the wider community, "we're just not quite there yet."
"So his post isn't entirely wrong. He did make some cells from his body that are now pluripotent that can then be made into other types of cells," she said. "But this idea of cloning and having this baby Bryan that lives in a petri dish just isn't accurate."
USA TODAY has reached out to Johnson, Dainis and Spice for additional commentary.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biohacker Bryan Johnson claims he 'cloned' himself. Did he really?
