Enzyme discovered critical to age-related cognitive decline
New research has led to the discovery of an enzyme that can help to reverse the DNA damage associated with ageing and Alzheimer's disease...
News
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
World's first liver stem cell transplant to a newborn baby
A newborn baby with a severe liver disorder has been successfully treated with liver cells derived from embryonic stem cells...
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.
Novel gene discovered that helps keep some people thin
According to preliminary research, scientists may have found a gene that explains why some individuals naturally stay slim...
Surrogate-born babies stranded in Ukraine during coronavirus lockdown
The COVID-19 pandemic has left parents across the globe whose children have been born through surrogacy in Ukraine across the globe unable to bring their babies home...
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
Hair regeneration using stem cells to treat baldness
Stem cells derived from fat can lead to hair regrowth for people with a common type of baldness, according to a new study...
Patients test positive for COVID-19 after clinical recovery
COVID-19 patients are testing positive for genetic elements of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, up to 24 days after hospital discharge...
Reviews
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Podcast Review: The Immaculate Deception
The widespread availability of home DNA testing has revealed a disturbing trend in cases of fertility fraud, where fertility doctors use their own sperm for donor inseminations instead of sperm from the partner or a donor...
Comment
From fertility lab to COVID testing: a personal experience of pandemic redeployment
by Sophie Jewitt
The waiting room was filling up when the Hospital Trust informed us that all elective treatments and procedures were to cease. One by one the patients were led to a private room and gently told the news that they dreaded: that their planned IVF and frozen embryo treatments would be suspended...
Counselling is more important than ever as clinics seek to reopen their doors
by Anthony Ryb
The announcement made a couple of weeks ago that from Monday 11 May 2020, fertility clinics can apply to reopen, has prompted a huge surge of relief and hope within the industry and, even more so, among the patients for whom treatment may have been postponed or put on hold for what, at the time, seemed indefinitely...
It's crucial to listen to patients' perspectives as fertility clinics prepare to reopen
by Dr Zeynep Gurtin
Fertility clinics are currently preparing to reopen their doors following their nationwide closure in April, enforced by the coronavirus pandemic...