A report has indicated for the first time the cost faced by the UK's National Health Service (NHS) as it copes with multiple births resulting from IVF patients treated abroad. New research undertaken by the Fetal Medicine Unit at University College London Hospital (UCLH) makes a link...
Researchers have generated a specialised type of nerve cell - astrocytes - from embryonic stem (ES) cells. The astrocytes were used to treat spinal injury in rats, with impressive results, restoring their ability to move freely. The team of scientists from the University of Rochester, New York, and the...
The Japanese Patent Office has granted the first patent for induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) to Kyoto University, where researcher Shinya Yamanaka produced both the first non-human iPS cells in 2006 and, using the same process, the first human iPS cells in 2007.The Japanese patent...
The average age of women seeking fertility help in Australia has increased from 35.2 years old in 2002 to 35.6 years old in 2006, according to a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The report showed that record numbers of women over 40...
In addition to Google's corporate sponsorship of nearly 2 million pounds last year, Google co-founder Sergey Brin has taken his support of the genome-testing company 23andMe, which his wife co-founded, to new personal heights by becoming one of its customers. Last week Brin publicly posted on his...
BioNews reporting from the British Society for Human Genetics annual conference in York:By Ailsa Taylor:By next year it could be possible to sequence the entire coding regions of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which can put women at risk of developing hereditary breast cancer, for as little as £10...
A survey of 3,103 men and women, conducted by vitamin supplement company Vitabiotics, has found that 45 per cent of women surveyed would consider asking a male friend to father their child in the absence of a suitable partner. The report by the company reveals that both...
A group of US researchers have found that injecting human stem cells derived from bone marrow into the brain after it has suffered a stroke can alleviate symptoms. The research was carried out at the Center for Gene Therapy, Tulane University, New Orleans, and reported in Proceedings...
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'Freeze and Share': an evolution of egg-sharing
by Dr Nataly Atalla
The removal of anonymity in 2005 led to a reduction in the already-insufficient number of altruistic egg donors coming forward in the UK. This, combined with a strong trend towards parenthood at an older age, leads hundreds of British women to go abroad each year for treatment with donor eggs...