Eric Lander, director of the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said last week that the genetic modification (or germline gene therapy) of humans should be banned for now, with the understanding that 'we would still be able to come back to the issue later'. Speaking about the...
Scientists at the Medical Research Council Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh, have identified two altered genes that contribute to the development of schizophrenia. The team, led by Professor David Porteous, found that members of a Scottish family affected by the illness had altered versions of two genes found on human chromosome...
A team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, has grown nerve cells in the laboratory and used them to repair damaged adult rat spinal cords. The scientists used embryo stem cells - cells that can grow into any type of body tissue - to obtain a supply of...
Life Interactive World, a new science centre situated within the International Centre for Life in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, opened last week. The interactive science centre, half funded by the National Lottery, focuses on human biology, evolution and DNA. It features a three-dimensional film of life in the womb from conception to birth...
The Institute for Human Gene Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania will no longer conduct gene therapy trials on patients, officials announced at a news conference last week. Dr Judith Rodin, president of the university, said it will also strengthen oversight of gene therapy research and other clinical trials, and...
The Nuffield Trust Genetics Scenario Project published a report on the impact of genetics on health and health policy last week. It calls for new genetic technology to be regulated in such a way that is 'sufficiently light-touch to maximise the potential benefits, but robust enough to protect the public...
Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson will recommend that the UK government lifts its ban on therapeutic cloning, a tabloid newspaper claimed last week. According to the News of the World, the long-awaited report on the possible use of cloned embryo cells to grow new body tissues will say that 'the...
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Chinese whispers in cloning
by Juliet Tizzard
Anyone reading the British press over the past few months could be forgiven for thinking that the government is about to change the law to allow human cloning for therapeutic purposes. There have been so many articles suggesting that Liam Donaldson is about to publish his recommendations that many people...