Japanese researchers have overcome a major obstacle to treating severe spinal cord injuries using stem cells taken from the brain...
Scottish researchers have taken a major step towards the 'holy grail' of haematology - the ability to produce a limitless supply of artificial blood cells. The team successfully produced significant amounts of red blood cells from stem cells harvested from spare IVF embryos...
A gene called Prox1 has a crucial role in an area of the brain involved in creating new memories, US scientists have discovered. The researchers focused on a region of the brain called the dentate gyrus, a small structure which is important for learning, memory and spatial navigation...
Funding of IVF treatment has been suspended by Warrington Primary Care Trust (PCT) following a review to assess whether the service matched agreed health priorities and offered the best value for money. Warrington is the only PCT in the North West, of which there are 24, to cut the funding of IVF, reports say...
Involuntary childlessness may have a bigger negative impact on peoples' lives than previously thought. A researcher studying couples who unsuccessfully underwent IVF treatment say these people had a lower quality of life than couples with children...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has demanded a federal injunction from the US District Court of the District of Columbia to stop Regenerative Sciences (a Colorado based stem cell clinic) from using patients' own stem cells as medicinal treatment...
Genetic defects in the immune system may be associated with Parkinson's disease, according to a recent study published in Nature Genetics. The genome wide association study (GWAS) is the first to link mutations in a gene in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region, which is known to be involved in immunity, to Parkinson's...
Researchers have come one step closer to being able to predict who will develop full-blown symptoms following infection with the tuberculosis (TB) bacterium...
In 2008 Exeter County Court put an end to claims brought by six men who on being diagnosed with cancer decided to store their sperm for potential future insemination before undergoing chemotherapy treatment should the effects of the treatment permanently impair their fertility...
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Comment
Wither the HFEA and the fate of donor registers?
by Professor Eric Blyth and 4 others
The UK government's review of Arm's Length Bodies (ALB) in the National Health Service has indicated that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has had its day as a free-standing regulatory body...
Should doctors harvest eggs from a comatose woman?
by Professor Anna Smajdor
A novel dilemma has arisen recently, recalling past debates over the removal of sperm from dead or dying men. However, the current case is a first, in that that it involves eggs, rather than sperm. Ultimately, the request was denied, but not necessarily for the right reasons...