Mouse gets lab-grown tooth transplant
A tooth grown from stem cells and successfully implanted into the jaw of a mouse has been hailed as a step towards the development of human organs grown from a patient's own cells...
BioNews
In vitro
Latin for 'within the glass'. Refers to experiments performed in a controlled environment like a test tube or culture media, rather than inside a living organism.
223 articles
The end of the HFEA: Are we throwing the baby out with the bathwater?
'We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we began to form into teams we were reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising. And a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation' - quoted by Professor Robin Lovell-Badge. The Progress Educational Trust and Anne Mclaren Memorial Fund organised a debate last week...
New technique will help scientists study abnormal testicles
Scientists have successfully grafted human testicle tissue into mice, allowing them to study for the first time how boys' testicles develop in the womb...
New method to create mature egg cells discovered
Immature mouse eggs have been successfully matured and fertilised in the laboratory for the first time. Eggs from women undergoing cancer therapy were also successfully matured using the new method, offering hope for some women suffering infertility such as cancer patients made infertile by treatment...
Why the MRC did not fund the first test-tube baby
In 1971, reproductive biologist Dr Robert Edwards and gynaecologist Mr Patrick Steptoe applied to the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) requesting funding for research into human in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer. Their application was rejected...
Giving birth to IVM babies more difficult, study finds
Babies born after in vitro maturation of ooctyes (IVM), an assisted reproductive technology (ART), seem to be larger and to have more complicated births. Researchers led by Dr Peter Sjöblom from Nottingham University's NURTURE IVF clinic found the average birth weight of 165 IVM babies was six to nine per cent higher than babies conceived by IVF/ICSI. The IVM babies' birth weights were also 0.3 to six per cent higher than the national average for singleton births...
Gene linked to fetal abnormalities identified
A newly identified genetic defect may help reduce fetal abnormalities such as Meckel-Gruber and Joubert syndromes, according to a new study in the journal Nature Genetics....
IVF becoming more efficient than sex in the over-30's
IVF could become the routine method of conception for 30-40 year olds within a decade, scientists predict...
Genetic tests hit store shelves in the US
Personal genetic testing kits are to be sold in US pharmacies for the first time, US biotech firm Pathway Genomics has announced...
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts equipment used for embryo biopsy.
Book Review: Reproductive Ageing
The first question I asked when picking up this book was: What is the image on the cover? Closer inspection and the power of Google revealed it is a dried poppy head (somniferum papaver) not, as I first thought, the egg from Alien - the science fiction horror film. What message does this convey?