The smallest particle of a substance that has all of the physical and chemical properties of that substance. Molecules are made up of two or more atoms - for example, a molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen.
US researchers have reported a new method for growing human embryonic stem (ES) cells, which does not rely on the use of 'feeder' cells. The new system, developed by scientists based at Massachusetts biotech firm Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), brings ES cell therapies a step closer. Many previously-isolated human ES...
Scottish couples at risk of having a child affected by a life-threatening inherited condition are set to benefit from a new preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) service. PGD involves testing IVF embryos, to ensure that only embryos unaffected by a particular genetic condition are returned to a woman's womb. Until now...
An international team of researchers has identified immune system genes that seem to play a key role in the body's defence against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. The scientists, who published their results in the journal Nature, say their findings should help efforts to develop an...
Two new studies suggest that at least 25 per cent of the embryonic stem (ES) cell lines available for use by federally-funded US researchers have 'little potential even as research tools'. This is because they are too difficult to keep alive and were initially grown using mouse 'feeder' cells, which...
The first clinical trial based on a promising new technology called RNA interference (RNAi) is set to begin in the US, to treat a progressive eye disorder. The researchers hope to test the safety of the technique for treating a disease called wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This condition, which...
Scientists from the Medical College of Georgia, US, have found a gene variation that intensifies the immune response that causes type 1 diabetes. The discovery, to be published in August's edition of the journal Nature Genetics, may increase the accuracy of neonatal tests that determines the likelihood of a child...
The ovaries of adult mice contain egg-generating germ cells, scientists revealed at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology's annual conference. The results have prompted hopes of a treatment for women with few eggs, such as those treated for cancer or nearing menopause. The discovery had been published in...
Stem cells are notoriously hard to grow outside the body, but a new use of miniaturisation and robotics brings finding optimum growth conditions a step closer. The new research, which borrowed high throughput 'chip' techniques from genetics, focused on making epithelial cells from human embryonic stem (ES) cells. It is...
Canadian researchers have managed to turn mouse embryo stem (ES) cells into immune cells in the laboratory, a development they say could help treat cancer and HIV patients. Researchers at the University of Toronto managed to coax the ES cells to grow into 'T-cells', which normally destroy infected or cancerous...
US researchers have managed to transplant kidneys from genetically modified pigs into baboons, a development that could pave the way for animal-to-human organ transplants, Nature magazine reports. Scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital, US, used kidneys from pigs that have been genetically altered to reduce rejection by the human and...
Subscribe for free to what PET does best – informing you of the latest in fertility, genomics and embryo research.
