US researchers have revealed how changes in regions of DNA that do not code for genes can affect disease. The majority of the human genome is composed of non-protein coding regions of DNA. Changes in these regions are associated with disease susceptibility, but precisely how these changes function is unclear...
Scientists from the University of Western Ontario have found that identical twins may not be as identical as we first thought....
Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have identified three different genetic mutations linked to acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a cancer that is characterised by a rapid increase in abnormal white blood cells in the bone marrow....
Couples struggling to conceive face more disappointment as NHS North Yorkshire and York joins a growing number of trusts restricting access to IVF after it decided to suspend funding for assisted conception services, save for those who demonstrate a 'clinical exception'....
The proposed abolition of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) was debated yet again in the UK House of Lords on 28 March. Labour peer Baroness Glenys Thornton proposed and withdrew the same amendment to save the HFEA from abolition that she had previously proposed and withdrawn on 9 March....
Britain's first 'gay-only' fertility centre has opened in Birmingham offering to help match potential parents with sperm or egg donors and surrogates....
A New York fertility specialist has 'partially successfully' implanted a British woman's own ovarian tissue back into her body after treatment for breast cancer....
At the Fukushima nuclear plant affected by the recent earthquake in Japan, workers have been attempting to fix the damage to the reactors, despite potentially high levels of radioactive contamination. As a result, the workers may now be invited to bank their stem cells for future treatment should they become ill....
This book, developed from PROPEUR, a European research project on 'Property Regulation in Science, Ethics and Law', consists of nineteen contributors, including the editors, from different European countries and of different disciplines (mostly in natural science, law or philosophy). This diversity causes what is described in the initial acknowledgments as a 'positive confusion' not only because of the number and complexity of the issues raised, but also because of the large number of language..
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BioNews Birthday Appeal is in Progress!
by Sarah Norcross
Thanks to those of you who have already donated to the BioNews Birthday Appeal. We have now raised over £200 -almost a quarter of our £1000 target....
To pay or not to pay - that is the question
by Anthony Bagshawe
In all the coverage of the recent debate about egg and sperm donation, there has been much said about whether or not egg donors should be paid. Arguments have been put forward on various points and counter claims made. However, in all this what seems to have been missed is that there are in fact two totally separate arguments which have become merged into one, namely payment and compensation...
The donation review: a chance to end the elaborate subterfuge?
by Professor Brian Lieberman
Human eggs are in short supply. Whilst the first reaction to the concept of payment for eggs may evoke the 'yuk' response, is this response rational? However, significant differences of opinion, ethical conduct and attitudes prevail. Yet, it can be argued that payment in one form or another is justified not only to try to meet this need, but also to reduce exploitation of the women who require donated eggs and those who have specifically been recruited into the egg trading market from...