This week at the Progress Educational Trust (25 May 2018)

The Progress Educational Trust (PET) is delighted to announce that its next two free-to-attend public events will be:

• 'From Acupuncture to Yoga: Can Lifestyle Choices Improve the Odds of IVF Working for You?'
  Taking place in Glasgow on the evening of Thursday 14 June 2018

• 'With Great Genomic Data Comes Great Responsibility'
  Taking place in London on the evening of Tuesday 26 June 2018

To book your free place(s) at either of these events, please email sstarr@progress.org.uk

The 'From Acupuncture to Yoga' event is supported by the Scottish Government. It is being held at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and will be chaired by Professor Richard Anderson (Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Edinburgh).

Speakers will include Dr Abha Maheshwari (Clinical Lead in Reproductive Medicine at the Aberdeen Fertility Centre), Isabel Traynor (Senior Charge Nurse at Glasgow Royal Infirmary's Assisted Conception Service), Dr Jane Jamieson (Nutritionist at the Natural Fertility Centre) and Dr Margaret McCartney (General Practitioner and author of books including The State of Medicine and The Patient Paradox).

If tweeting about this event, please use the hashtag #IVFlifestyle

The 'With Great Genomic Data Comes Great Responsibility' event is being produced in partnership with Genomics England (the organisation established by the UK Government to deliver the 100,000 Genomes Project), as part of the Genomics Conversation.

The event is being held at the Institute of Child Health in London, and will be chaired by Timandra Harkness (author of the book Big Data: Does Size Matter?).

Speakers will include Dr Natalie Banner (Policy Adviser at Understanding Patient Data) and Professors Anthony Brookes (Professor of Genetics at the University of Leicester), Ann Dalton (Director of the Sheffield Diagnostic Genetics Service at Sheffield Children's Hospital) and Tim Hubbard (Head of Genome Analysis at Genomics England).

If tweeting about this event, please use the hashtag #PETgenomic

PET has also been going through audience feedback from its three most recent packed public events, each of which has been discussed in the charity's flagship publication BioNews and each of which has also been the subject of wider media coverage.

• 'Putting Your Genome to Work: For the NHS, for Industry, for the UK Post-Brexit' was held in London, and was supported by the Medical Research Council.

  PET Communications Manager Sandy Starr was interviewed about this event on Love Sport Radio.

  Read a synopsis of this event on BioNews here.

• 'The Real Cost of IVF' was held in London, and was supported by the British Fertility Society.

  Comments made by two of the speakers at this event - Sally Cheshire (Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) and Professor Lesley Regan (President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) - were reported in the Daily Mail and in the Independent.

  The event was also referred to in a later article in the Independent, about the a study concluding that acupuncture does not have an effect on IVF success rate. (This is a matter that will be debated at PET's upcoming 'From Acupuncture to Yoga' event in Glasgow.)

  Read a synopsis of this event on BioNews here.

• 'Time Waits for No Man: The Impact of Age on Male Fertility' was held in Edinburgh, and was supported by the Scottish Government.

  Comments made by one of the speakers at this event - Professor Allan Pacey (Trustee at PET) - were reported in the Daily Mail.

  Read a synopsis of this event on BioNews here.

Be sure to subscribe to BioNews for free here, to be kept up-to-date with PET's events and initiatives as well as all the latest news and views on fertility, genomics and embryo/stem cell research.

In other news, PET was proud to see its Patron Baroness Mary Warnock awarded a Dan David Prize earlier this month. These awards are given annually to figures 'with proven, exceptional, distinct excellence in the sciences, arts, humanities, public service and business'.

Mary received her prize in the 'Bioethics' category 'for her leading role in the development of practical bioethics, specifically for her progressive and unparalleled contribution to the ethics of embryology and genetics'. Watch videos of Mary at Tel Aviv University receiving her award and discussing her work in conversation with the researcher Professor Yael Hashiloni-Dolev.

PET/BioNews Science Editor Shaoni Bhattacharya, who originally reported the news of Mary's award, has now conducted a new interview with Mary for BioNews.

The interview sees Mary reflect on the landmark report she was commissioned to write by the UK Government in the 1980s, as the head of an expert committee. Nowadays known simply as the Warnock Report, it is arguably the world's most influential analysis of the ethics of assisted conception and embryo research.

PET's other Patron, Professor Marcus Pembrey, has also been in the spotlight recently. He is quoted by BBC News and by the Independent, discussing research in mice which suggests that exercise could lead to improvements in brain function that are then inherited by the next generation via epigenetics.

Marcus continues to publish his own work on epigenetics, most recently this paper in the journal Environmental Epigenetics, while his contributions to public and professional debate about (epi)gentics are discussed in recent articles in the European Journal of Human Genetics and in the journal Development.