Deputy Director
Sandy Starr is deputy director of the Progress Educational Trust (PET), and is project consultant for the Code of Practice for the Generation and Use of Human Stem-Cell-Based Embryo Models, published jointly by PET and Cambridge Reproduction. Previously, he served on the working groups that produced the clinical practice guidance Ethical Issues in Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis and Prenatal Diagnosis and Preimplantation Genetic Testing for Germline Cancer Susceptibility Gene Variants. He is author of the pamphlet AI: Separating Man from Machine, and he has lectured and written about AI in relation to the history of algorithms and the work of Ada Lovelace. He has also given a TEDx talk about genomics, and has lectured on the life and legacy of JBS Haldane.
Sandy has addressed MPs in the UK Parliament on the subject of human embryo research, debated the morality of genetics on The Moral Maze on BBC Radio 4, been interviewed about mitochondrial donation on the BBC World Service programme Newshour and in the book Legalising Mitochondrial Donation, and appeared as a guest on the Sunrise Paper Review on Sky News. He has lectured and written about genome editing for the Thackray Museum of Medicine, and has also written about genome editing in the British Medical Bulletin, in the European Journal and in Microbiology Today.
Following the granting of Royal Assent to the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act in November 2008, the Department of Health has launched a public consultation on draft regulations to implement the Act. While certain aspects of the Act's provisions will come into force as early as...
A heated debate on the subject of embryo selection and deafness has been sparked in the UK, by a deaf couple who resent the impediment to having a deaf child posed by prospective legislation. Clause 14 of the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill says that in...
A report on the circumstances surrounding the 2003 death of Irish IVF patient Jacqueline Rushton has been published. The report was commissioned by the Republic of Ireland's Health Service Executive (HSE), and written by Alison Murdoch of the Newcastle Fertility Centre and independent healthcare consultant Stuart Emslie...
Increasing numbers of people are travelling abroad for preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), according to the first study of the provision and regulation of PGD to encompass the whole of the European Union. The study was led by James Lawford Davies, a solicitor who also lectures in law...
New research into the formation of early embryos (blastocysts) shows how multiple pregnancies resulting from IVF might be explained and reduced, even those where only a single embryo has been implanted. The research was led by Dianna Payne - visiting fellow at the Mio Fertility Clinic in Yonago...
It is essential that fertility regulation be standardised across Europe, according to Professor Paul Devroey of Brussels Free University. Speaking in Lyons, France at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology - of which he is chair - Professor Devroey made a provocative contribution...
New research by Dr Chris Faulkes of Queen Mary, University of London draws connections between the breeding habits of mole-rats and stress-related infertility in humans. Dr Faulkes presented his research in Lyons, France this week, at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and...
Raids carried out earlier this year by the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), on IVF clinics run by the pioneering fertility expert Mohamed Taranissi, have been ruled unlawful by the High Court of Justice. The case was expected to go to a full hearing, but...
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Upcoming event
28 May 2025 | 6.30pm - 8.00pm | Free event
Location: Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ
