South Korean stem cell scientist Woo Suk Hwang, currently facing charges of fraud and embezzlement, is set to resume animal cloning research as early as next month. Hwang, who could spend up to 10 years in prison if convicted, is going to set up a new...
The US Senate may soon be due to vote on a bill to expand the availability of federal funding for human embryonic stem (ES) cell research. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced last week that he will schedule a vote sometime this month on the bill...
Children born following the use of donor sperm or eggs in the Australian state of Victoria will now, from 1 July, be able to trace their biological parents when they reach the age of 18. Relatedly, donors of gametes will also be able to apply for...
Research on rats has found that stimulating a specific receptor on the surface of brain stem cells may help recovery after stroke. Researchers from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, stimulated a protein called Notch in the brains of rats suffering stroke-like...
UK scientists have developed a new genetic test to identify bowel cancer patients who have an inherited form of the disease. The team, based at Edinburgh University, says that the test could also be used to detect people at high risk of developing the disease, before...
Scientists working in Italy have reported success in deriving human stem cell lines from eggs stimulated to divide without sperm. Embryos created from the process of parthenogenesis are known as parthenotes, and never normally develop beyond a few days. The team, from the University of Milan, developed...
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Of mice misleading men?
by Dr Ian Craft
Research into establishing the mechanisms that control normal sperm production in mice and which may later allow a better understanding of why some men are infertile, has recently been reported in the UK press, with great accolades about the promise it may bring in the treatment of male infertility. However...
Testing times for breast cancer screening
by Dr Cristina Parsons Perez
Last week, the UK charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer published a report, 'Testing Times: waiting for genetic test results', calling on the Government to end the long delays some women face to find out if they carry the faulty genes associated with hereditary breast cancer. The report recognises that progress in...