Women who have not conceived after two cycles of IVF (in vitro fertilisation) may face reduced success rates if electing to undergo further cycles, according to a new study. The research is preliminary and many factors which may affect IVF success, such as the age and weight of the women, were not taken into account....
New research suggests that the impact of stress may be passed on from one generation to the next, and that psychiatric illness may have some degree of 'epigenetic heritability'....
International journal Nature has found no sign of fraud in a 2009 paper published by Professor Konrad Hochedlinger and colleagues. The allegations came from a group calling itself 'Stem Cell Watch' which has made a series of accusations of fraud against a number of leading stem cell scientists, including Professor Hochedlinger, citing repetition and the manipulation of images among its reasons for concern....
Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at The University of Oxford have identified a genetic link between handedness and reading difficulties....
A private medical centre in Singapore is under investigation after a mix-up during IVF treatment resulted in the birth of a child conceived with the wrong sperm....
The Lasker Foundation has awarded UK scientist, Professor David Weatherall from Oxford University its prestigious Lasker-Koshland Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science...
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has weighed in on the complex issue of gene patenting against the principle that genes should be eligible for patent protection, reversing the government's position on the matter and causing consternation for many biotechnology companies. This week it issued a legal brief as a 'friend of the court' joining a lawsuit challenging the rights of companies to patent genetic technologies....
A new study suggests factors other than a couple's underlying fertility problems may explain an increased risk of cerebral palsy seen in children born following fertility treatment. Researchers at the University of Aarhus in Denmark who conducted the study emphasised the overall risk of cerebral palsy in children conceived through IVF or ICSI remains very low - approximately 0.57 percent, or one in every 176 babies born....
NHS West Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT) has suspended IVF treatments considered non-urgent until April 2011. The measure is aimed at avoiding a projected overspend of approximately £40m on the PCT's budget of £1.013 billion, within the first six months of the coming year...
US researchers have claimed that having a particular gene variant and a sociable time in your teens may mean you are more likely to be politically liberal....
About 15 years ago, I formed the view we should be less ambitious about improving 'Public Understanding of Science' because we should not expect the public to understand genetic principles in detail. Better, I thought, to give a grounding in core science skills...
Academics, clinicians and other interested people came together last week to discuss the rise of reproductive technologies. The event was the first of three 'public dialogues', organised by the Cambridge University Centre for Gender Studies in association with the Guardian newspaper. The aim of this series is to aid conversation between experts and the general public on issues of gender and 21st century biomedical advances...
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Lesbian mums in dispute: fertility law, child maintenance and what makes a parent
by Natalie Gamble
A lesbian couple who had conceived a child together through donor insemination at a UK clinic recently ended up in the High Court after their relationship broke down. Their dispute involved a ten-year-old child, and the issue was whether the non-birth mother (who the court had already given legal decision-making status as a parent) should be ordered to make financial provision for her child...