Happy New Year

BioNews is back! If you are feeling out of touch with what has been happening over Christmas and New Year, you will soon be up-to-date again after reading this week's packed edition of our newsletter.

We predict that you will be reading a lot more about mitochondrial donation on BioNews in coming weeks, as regulations permitting this technique have been laid down in Parliament (as reported in this week's BioNews here), and should be debated in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords in the next month or so. Work on the 100,000 Genomes Project is also beginning in earnest now in clinics up and down England (as reported in this week's BioNews here), and in the near future we plan to seek your views about this project.

We will be keeping you up to date with these stories, and many more, as they develop throughout 2015. In other news, we were sorry to say goodbye to our Genetics Editor, Siobhan Chan, at the end of 2014. But we are delighted to be joined by our new Genetics Editor, Kirsty Oswald (who joins us from medwireNews).

Congratulations are due to Peter Braude, who was awarded an OBE for services to reproductive medicine in the New Year's Honours List. Peter is an Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at King's College London, and former Director of the Assisted Conception Unit at Guy's Hospital. He is a longstanding supporter of the Progress Educational Trust and BioNews.

Finally, thanks to all who have made a donation to our Christmas Appeal. We have yet to reach our target so please make a donation if you have not already done so - all donations, whatever their size, are gratefully received. You can donate by PayPal (click here), by text (text 'PROG23 £10' or any other amount to 70070), or by post (as detailed here).