Molecular approach to male infertility
Research carried out at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine suggests that the packaging of DNA affects the production of sperm and could explain some cases of male infertility....
BioNews
Meiosis
The form of cell division by which egg and sperm cells are formed. Unlike normal cell division (mitosis), the number of chromosomes in the resulting cells is half that in the original cells.
46 articles
Children with genetic disorder lack racial prejudices
Children with a rare genetic disorder called Williams syndrome lack normal social fear and appear to have no racial biases, according to German and French researchers. The study is the first to report the absence of racial stereotyping in any human population, according to study co-author Professor Meyer-Lindenberg...
Autism linked to maternal grandmother's age
A new study into autism has found a link between the disorder in children and their grandparents' age. The research, published in PLoS ONE last week, is the first of its kind to look at grandparent's as opposed to parents' ages...
Sperm from female stem cells?
British scientists have created early-stage, human sperm from female stem cells, according to a news report in New Scientist magazine. It is claimed that the research will pave the way for same sex couples to have children that are genetically their own. However, other scientists are sceptical...
PGS: select or reject? - it's not just about improving pregnancy rates
Ten years since the first reports of preimplantation genetic diagnosis for abnormal chromosome number, or aneuploidy, (now commonly known as PGS - preimplantation genetic screening), we are experiencing a prejudicial mistrust of a clinical approach that is generally accepted to be scientifically and clinically sound. Opponents of PGS frequently criticise its...
Explaining mammal egg errors
As many as a fifth of a woman's eggs are genetically scrambled - but it's not because they can't check their chromosomes, say a team of UK and French scientists. A new study published in the journal Reproduction shows that egg-producing cells in mammals have a mechanism for checking their chromosomes...