Scientists from Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) working in collaboration with eye specialists from the University of Utah, have used human embryonic stem (ES) cells to partly restore vision in rats suffering from a form of degenerative blindness used to mimic macular degeneration. According to Robert Lanza of...
A developmental gene has been found to provide a connection between several genes involved in the formation of a cleft lip and palate. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts, US found that when the gene SUMO1 is under-expressed and does not...
Non-invasive prenatal tests to identify fetuses at risk of genetic disorders as early as the sixth week of pregnancy are now a reality, say British scientists. A team based at the Institute of Child Health in London and Bristol has successfully carried out simple blood tests...
A man is suing Oregon Health and Sciences University, in the US, after doctors used his sperm to inseminate the wrong woman. The man, anonymised for legal reasons, donated his sperm so that his fiance could be inseminated. He is seeking $2 million in compensation and has...
Three new studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) reveal contradictory results following the use of bone marrow-derived stem cells to treat heart attack patients. Two of reports found that injections of a patient's own bone marrow cells can improve heart function after...
The UK's fertility treatment regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), is likely to recommend that women undergoing IVF treatment should only be allowed to have one embryo transferred at a time. The HFEA last reviewed its guidelines on how many embryos can be implanted...
British researchers have established a new method of creating stem cells from naturally arrested, or 'dead', IVF embryos. In the journal Stem Cells, the scientists from Newcastle University demonstrated that they used five IVF embryos, that had arrested six to seven days after conception, to create embryonic...
A UK fertility clinic has offered fifty couples the chance to take part in a trial of a 'modified form of IVF'. Following strict assessments, eligible patients will receive the treatment - including all drugs and 'the unique embryology and genetic testing' - for free. CARE Fertility centre...
A survey conducted for the Centre for Genetics and Public Policy, at the Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, has revealed that an increasing number of couples in the US are choosing the sex of their baby for non-medical reasons through preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) offered by IVF...
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Comment
Sperm donation: time to look forward, not back
by Professor Eric Blyth
Sir Colin Campbell, founder chair of the HFEA, his successor, Baroness Deech, and Professor Lord Winston, have now joined the debate on the UK's donor 'crisis'. All three regard the 'crisis' as emanating from the government's 2005 decision to abandon donor anonymity. Sir Colin and Baroness Deech have unequivocally demanded...
Egg donation for research
by Veronica English
The British Medical Association (BMA)'s Medical Ethics Committee (MEC) recently had a long and fascinating debate about egg donation for research. The debate was much broader than the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)'s consultation document, looking also at related issues such as payment for donation of other...