Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Google co-founder Sergi Brin, has set up a web-based biotech company to allow users to divulge their genetic information into a communal pool, in an effort to enable individuals to greater understand their genetic makeup whilst also permitting pharmaceutical companies to use...
An international team of researchers has identified five new genetic variations that affect a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. Four of the variants are linked to genes that could play a role in the disease process, say the scientists, who published their findings in the...
A team of University of Florida researchers has restored sight to mice with hereditary blindness by using a harmless virus to deliver therapuetic genes. In a paper published in Nature Medicine, the scientists describe how their research proved it was possible to target and rescue cone cells...
By MacKenna Roberts: US Sociologist Rene Almeling has discovered that the dramatic disparity between the value of egg donors over sperm donors goes much deeper than compensation fees. Her research reveals that sperm donors are undervalued fiscally, and are also treated with less appreciation, and are less prepared for the...
US Researchers have discovered a gene that could lead to an explanation for some cases of inherited breast cancer in families who have tested negative for BRCA1; a well-known gene responsible for less than 50 per cent of inherited breast cancer cases, say the authors of the...
There are fears that 'personal genomics' will develop as a tool for the rich and famous, rather than for the benefit of humanity at large, according to a news article in the journal Nature. At a recent scientific meeting, 454 Life Sciences, a US based sequencing technology...
A sixty year-old woman has become the oldest women in the US to give birth to twins. The two healthy boys were delivered in the US Hackensack University Medical Centre on 22 May. The twins were conceived via IVF in a South African clinic. The couple, Frieda...
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Inherited cancer test results and insurance premiums
by Anna Wood
Recent reports that UK insurers could soon seek approval to use genetic test results for inherited cancers to set premiums will have alarmed many individuals and families who could be affected. As the leading charity providing support and care to those affected by the disease, Breast Cancer Care hears from...