Of Counsel, Bristows LLP
Julian Hitchcock is Of Counsel in life sciences regulation at the law firm Bristows LLP. He has specialised in the regulation of cells, tissues and genes for twenty years, with a particular focus on emerging science, technology and governance.
The current legal framework on which compensation caps for gamete donors is based has created a situation where foreign donors are compensated less than those in the UK, explains Julian Hitchcock...
How responsive is the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act to the pace of social and technological change? In this comment, Julian Hitchcock contemplates revision of the Act, and how might we optimise its responsiveness to clinical need while upholding standards...
In a recent press statement on the use of preimplantation genetic testing of human embryos, the HFEA stated that 'Embryo selection is only legal in the UK to avoid serious inherited illnesses, usually by means of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis authorised by the HFEA, known as PGT-M or PGT-SR'…
Over two weeks in March, four teams reported the self-assembly from stem cells of structures resembling human embryos...
The Dance of Life: Symmetry, Cells and How We Become Human is the autobiography of the developmental biologist Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, written with the unobtrusive but unerring support of a master science writer, Dr Roger Highfield...
'Three babies, three scientists, three years in jail, and a three million yuan fine. This is the story of Dr He Jiankui and the world's first genome edited babies', wrote the philosopher Françoise Baylis in last week's Boston Globe....
GMO Sapiens is just the annoying grit in the machine that the genome editing debate needs, but readers deserve clearer lines between science, speculation and opinion...
The advances of Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, the opportunities to undertake valuable medical research and our changed sense of values all demand that we reappraise the 14-day limit...
Last week the front pages and airwaves filled with well-written, balanced articles about a significant development in UK embryo research. There was, however, something missing: a story...
As BioNews 763 reported recently, Advocate General Cruz Villalón has advised the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that human parthenotes are not human embryos. The fact that he had to do so raises serious concerns about the ability of Europe's leading court to interpret bioethical legislation and challenges the authority of one of its most notorious cases....
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