Understanding Egg Donation: The Give and Take
This event from PET brought together clinical, social and lived perspectives on egg donation: exploring the needs and interests of donors, recipients, and donor-conceived people alike...
Vanessa Burns
PhD student at the Wellcome Sanger Institute
Vanessa Burns is a Volunteer Writer at BioNews. She is a PhD candidate in Human Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, affiliated with the University of Cambridge. Vanessa previously obtained an MPhil in Genomic Medicine from the University of Cambridge, in addition to an MSc in Reproductive and Developmental Biology from Imperial College London. Her current work is focused on the use of saturation genome editing to clarify variant effect within developmental disorder genes. More specifically, this research hopes to inform the functional effect of variants in non-coding regions, as well as resolve variants of uncertain significance to aid clinical diagnosis.
BioNews Articles by Vanessa Burns
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
Film Review: The Wedding Banquet
A modern reimagining of Ang Lee's 1993 film of the same name. The romantic comedy carries over the original's themes of cultural expectation and queer identity, while updating them to include more contemporary issues and inclusive representation...
Kim Cotton to close surrogacy organisation after 37 years
Kim Cotton, the UK's first surrogate, has decided to close her surrogacy agency after 37 years of operation...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Human eggs acquire fewer mutations with age than previously thought
Human eggs appear to be protected from the age-related accumulation of genetic mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)...
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.
Gene therapy improves hearing in deaf patients within weeks
A gene therapy for inherited deafness has safely and rapidly improved hearing in patients ranging from early childhood to adulthood...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Event Review: Reproductive Justice in a Changing Climate
A panel discussion and exhibition of social and reproductive challenges and injustice around the world, being exacerbated by climate change and cultural conventions...
British surrogacy couple stuck in Cyprus
A British same-sex couple who had twins via surrogacy in Cyprus spent two months unable to leave the country...
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.
Event Review: BSGM Lunch & Learn – Adoption, fostering and kinship care
This online event was an apt and informative discussion of the complex and varied reasons health records are so important to children and young people in adoption, fostering and kinship care...
Netflix sued for disclosing identities of donor-conceived people
Netflix is being sued in federal court over the disclosure of three women's donor-conceived status in the 2022 documentary 'Our Father'...
Image by Matthew Daniels via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts human cells, showing the stages of cell division.
The continued impact of the CRISPR revolution
This piece by Vanessa Burns, exploring the impact that CRISPR-based genome editing will have over the next 25 years, won the second prize in the inaugural Marcus Pembrey BioNews Writing Competition...