UK fertility sector calls for end to health disparities affecting black and Asian patients
Black patients were disproportionately affected by the drop in NHS-funded IVF cycles that occured during the pandemic...
Hannah Flynn
Former BioNews Science Editor
Hannah Flynn is a Volunteer Writer at BioNews, and was previously the Science Editor at BioNews and at the charity that publishes it, the Progress Educational Trust (PET). She also works for Medical News Today as a fact checker, and for the NHS campaign Keep Our NHS Public. She has worked as a reporter for Chemist+Druggist and the Nursing Standard, covering policy and clinical news. Bylines include various trade publications as well as Vice, Ars Technica, TES and the Guardian. She has also worked with charities and non-profit organisations including the Royal National Institute of Blind People, the Children's Society, the Institute of Physics and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. She originally studied Biology at the University of Manchester, and went on to study journalism at Cardiff University.
BioNews Articles by Hannah Flynn
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
Call to create national research embryo bank at PET Annual Conference
Researchers called for the law to be interpreted in a way that would make it easier for IVF patients to donate their unused embryos for general research, at the 2023 PET Annual Conference...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy could affect reproductive development of sons
Exposure of pregnant women to air pollution could affect the development of the sex organs of their sons in ways that have been linked to fertility later in life...
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Government to scrap additional IVF screening for same-sex couples
Women will be able to undergo IVF using their partner's eggs, without their partner undergoing additional screening usually required for gamete donors...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Fertility and period app data sharing to be reviewed by regulator
How companies are using data collected in fertility and period apps in the UK will be reviewed by the Information Commissioner's Office, to identify whether any potentially harmful practices are occurring...
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
Ancestry of many living African Americans linked to Maryland cemetery
DNA obtained from the remains of 27 African Americans found in a cemetery near an historical iron forge in Maryland, has been linked to nearly 42,000 living descendants by 23andMe...
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Doctors argue against suspension of Assuta fertility clinic
A move by the Israeli Health Ministry to stop a further Assuta clinic in Tel Aviv from accepting any new fertility patients, has come under criticism by doctors...
ICBs fail to improve NHS fertility treatment access, despite Women's Health Strategy
Just three out of 42 Integrated Care Boards are offering the recommended three full NHS-funded IVF cycles across their entire area, analysis by the Progress Educational Trust has shown...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
TV Review: Celebrity Save Our Sperm
The latest Channel 4 documentary on reproductive health fails to apply scientific rigour or appropriate sensitivity to discussion around male fertility, favouring sensationalism and laddish humour over exploration of what is needed for genuine change...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Childhood Hodgkin lymphoma survivors take longer to conceive in 20s
Pregnancy and live birth rates were comparable between women who had received treatment for a form of cancer known as childhood Hodgkin lymphoma, and women who had not...
