The UK's Medical Research Council (MRC) has given £1.5 million worth of funding for a new stem cell centre, which will conduct research into developing treatments for diabetes and brain diseases, including Parkinson's. The news follows an announcement made earlier this month that stem cell scientists in Britain would receive...
Two research teams have identified a gene that plays a pivotal role in both ageing and obesity. David Sinclair, one of the researchers involved, hopes the findings will lead to a 'totally new class of drug that stimulates the body's own defences and combats the diseases of ageing'. Targeting the...
Research into pharmacogenetics - the use of genetic tests to match medicines to a person's genetic make-up - is to receive £4 million of funding, Health Minister Lord Warner announced last week. The cash will go to six different research projects, which include studies on medicines used to prevent blood clots, epilepsy...
A team from King's College London has grown teeth from transplanted cells in the jaws of mice. In the first experiment of its kind, the researchers, lead by Professor Paul Sharpe, grew the teeth by transplanting tooth buds from embryos, which then grew into normal teeth. In a separate experiment...
The UK's Department of Health has published a report of its inquiry into the circumstances surrounding a number of IVF mix-ups, one of which led to mixed-race twins being born to a white couple. Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, commissioned Professor Brian Toft, in July 2002, to investigate...
A boy born with very well-developed muscles has inherited a double dose of a genetic variation linked to unusual strength in mice and cattle, German researchers report. The team, based at the Charite University Medical Centre in Berlin, say their findings could help develop new drug treatments for inherited muscle...
The UK's Court of Appeal has ruled that Natallie Evans cannot use the IVF embryos she created with her former partner. Natallie was one of two British women legally prevented, due to the withdrawal of consent by their ex-partners, from using embryos kept in frozen storage. The embryos represent her...
Knocking out a key mouse gene involved in the brain's response to painkilling drugs interferes with the bonding between infants and their mothers, Italian scientists report. Newborn mice lacking the gene, which makes a protein that interacts with opioids such as morphine, show reduced distress when separated from their mothers...
Japanese researchers have produced genetically altered mice by injecting genes into the testes of immature males. The researchers, based at Kyoto University in Japan, then mated the mice with normal females and found that a small number of the offspring carried the added gene in all their cells. The scientists...
John Kerry, the Democrat candidate likely to be up in opposition to President Bush in the US presidential elections in November, has pledged to increase the availability of federal funds for human embryonic stem (ES) cell research if he is elected. Speaking last week at a campaign appearance in Denver...
BioNews reporting from ESHRE conference, Berlin: Using a mobile phone and taking the anti-impotence drug Viagra may both affect a man's fertility, according to a report in the Sunday Times. A study carried out by researchers at the University of Szeged in Hungary found a link between 'heavy use' of...
BioNews reporting from ESHRE conference, Berlin: High protein diets could affect a woman's chances of becoming pregnant, a US study carried out on mice suggests. The research, reported at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) annual meeting in Berlin, suggest that women trying to conceive should avoid...
Comment
The ESHRE conference and fertility scare stories
by Dr Jess Buxton
The annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology invariably attracts a lot of interest from the media. In recent years, ESHRE has welcomed the press to its conference with open arms, providing a wealth of press releases, briefings and opportunities to quiz the scientists reporting their...