A handheld device for sequencing DNA on the move has been unveiled by UK company Oxford Nanopore. The single-use MinION tool resembles a USB drive in size and shape, and the company hopes it will be put into routine use by clinicians and researchers alike...
The Republican controlled state Senate of Oklahoma passed the 'Personhood Act' by 34 votes to eight on 15 February. The Act moves to extend the definition of 'person' under State law to include a fetus from the point of conception...
The European approval of a new gene-specific drug for an aggressive form of skin cancer marks another step towards an era of personalised medicine. A recent trial showed promising results, with the drug shrinking tumour size and extending life span...
Collecting DNA samples from adults arrested in California will remain legal, after a federal appeals court ruled last Thursday that Proposition 69, the measure behind the practice, was lawful....
The exchange rate between the euro and Denmark's krone is causing a crisis for the sperm banking business in Ireland, reports the Irish Independent....
A new genetic mutation linked to a greater risk of developing breast cancer has been shown to interact with the well-known breast cancer-causing gene BRCA1...
Men may not be on the brink of extinction after all, according to a study on the evolution of the human Y chromosome. Previous research has suggested that the Y sex chromosome, carried only by men, is decaying genetically at such a rate that men would become extinct in five million years' time...
Researchers in the US have used gene therapy to reduce the severity of seizures in a rat model of epilepsy. The gene injected into the rats codes for somatostatin, a hormone which is normally found in low levels in people with the condition...
Scientists in the USA have shown it may be possible to isolate egg-producing stem cells from women's ovaries....
As a generation of donor-conceived children reach adulthood, Anonymous Father's Day looks at donor conception from the perspective of the children. It follows three donor conceived people who are actively raising awareness of donor conception, and the rights of donor-conceived children...
Is medicine magic? No, of course not. The active ingredients in the medicines we take are simply chemical compounds which interact with our bodies to produce a net effect. And yet, when we take a pill and our headache promptly disappears, it can all feel a bit miraculous to someone who doesn't know the chemical mechanisms...
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What's in a name?
by Ruth Saunders
In July 2011, the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS) announced its plans to improve the rules governing the protection of human subjects in research, after admitting current regulations were 'developed years ago'...
Donor information - time for a debate
by Dr Marilyn Crawshaw and 1 others
It is now eight years since the HFEA first issued guidance to UK licensed treatment centres to respond as fully as possible to patients' requests for non-identifying donor information...