'Baby-factory' father wins custody of 13 children born via surrogacy
A court in Thailand has awarded a Japanese man paternity rights over 13 children born through surrogacy, meaning that can now apply for custody of them...
News
'Mini-tumours' could help tailor individual cancer therapy
Researchers have tested cancer drugs on lab-grown 'mini-tumours' and say the results mean that the most appropriate treatment for a patient with cancer could be given faster in future...
Image by Christoph Bock/Max Planck Institute for Informatics via Wikimedia Commons. Depicts a DNA molecule that is methylated on both strands on the centre cytosine.
Stress in mice alters sperm and affects offspring brain development
A father's stress levels can affect the brain development of his offspring, new research has found...
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.
Hopes of sickle cell cure with genome editing
Genome editing has been used to correct the mutation causing sickle cell disease in stem cells from the blood of patients...
Image by K Hardy via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human embryo at the blastocyst stage (about six days after fertilisation) 'hatching' out of the zona pellucida.
Sheep embryos with human cells grown for first time
Scientists have successfully grown sheep embryos containing human cells, taking a step towards a method for growing human organs in animals for transplantation...
New twist in the tail of human sperm discovered
A corkscrew-like structure in the tip of sperm tails has been identified by researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The structure could help sperm to swim in the right direction or enable them to swim rapidly...
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.
Wales joins 100,000 Genomes Project to tackle rare diseases
The 100,000 Genomes Project has been extended to Wales, with an initial 420 rare disease patients and patients' relatives set to have their whole genomes sequenced...
Reviews
Book Review: Surrogacy - Our Family's Journey
Surrogacy: Our Family's Journey is a personal account of author James Phillip's emotional journey from contemplating fatherhood, deciding to embark on a foreign surrogacy arrangement through to conception, pregnancy and eventually, birth and parenthood...
Comment
Personal genetic testing and the implications for the donor conception community
by Debbie Kennett
2017 was the year that personal genetic testing took off in a big way...