A British couple have travelled to America in order to make use of embryo screening techniques which will allow them to have a child who is compatible as a potential bone marrow donor for one of their existing children, who has leukaemia. Such genetic screening techniques are more strictly regulated...
The Spanish parliament has voted against a proposal to allow the use of embryonic stem (ES) cells from embryos created originally for in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The proposal was put forward by by the opposition Socialist party, who wanted the government to change an existing law that makes embryo research...
The Sanger Centre, near Cambridge, has recently announced a five-year plan to follow up on its key role in the publication of the human genome sequence. Research into the understanding of the way genes function and express themselves, to develop tools, and involving comparisons between humans and other organisms is...
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have added their support to others who have opposed the granting of two patents in Europe to Myriad Genetics, a biotechnology firm based in Salt Lake City, US. The French ministries of health and research and the Paris Institut Curie, one of the world's...
Research undertaken on rats may suggest that aggression in males is controlled by genes. Scientists at the University of Akron, Ohio, US, say that the male Y chromosome contains genes that reduce levels of the mood-controlling chemical serotonin when stimulated, whilst at the same time increasing levels of the hormone...
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Achieving international regulations on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
by Professor Marcus Pembrey
It comes as no surprise that a British couple have used embryo screening at a clinic in Chicago to conceive a child who could act as a compatible bone marrow donor for his or her brother with leukaemia. If there are professionally approved clinics that are willing and able under...