A public inquiry has been launched by the UK's Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke after a newspaper's freedom of information request revealed a prisoner was granted permission to provide sperm for use in artificial insemination with his partner while in custody...
Three genetic regions have been linked for the first time to a bone disease called Paget's disease by an international research team. Genes in these regions and four others identified in a previous study explain about 13 percent of the risk of developing the disease....
Women at risk of passing on mitochondrial disease to their children could use PGD to give birth to an unaffected child. The scientists at Maastricht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands claim their work has the potential to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial diseases...
British scientists have grown mature eggs from undeveloped ones in the laboratory and are currently seeking permission to fertilise them. The new research gives hope to young girls undergoing treatment for cancer that may leave them infertile...
Researchers have found a link between genetics and the environment that may help to explain the development of multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, published in Nature Communications, identified how vitamin D obtained through diet or sunlight, interacts with certain genes...
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests provide an inaccurate prediction of disease risk and offer little benefit to consumers, scientists claim...
Scientists have identified a set of 15 genes that are associated with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form of the disease that does not respond to the drugs commonly used to treat other types of breast cancer...
The link between genetic markers and disease risk is often overstated, say American and Greek researchers. The scientists reviewed the associations identified in highly cited studies, where there was subsequent data available from larger studies...
A man who froze his sperm at a fertility clinic over ten years ago has spoken of his distress after finding out his ex-wife had tricked the clinic into using the sperm, resulting in the birth of two children. He was then ordered by a court to pay 100,000 towards their upbringing...
A US fertility clinic has issued a press release warning against simplistic interpretations of a recent report on IVF success rates...
The US fertility doctor who helped 'octomum' Nadya Suleman give birth to a total of 14 children through repeated IVF treatments, has had his licence revoked by the Medical Board of California....
Along with complaining about the weather, tracing ancestry appears to be a much loved British pastime, and this examination of the genetic heritage of modern Scotland is in many respects a natural extension of this fascination....
This documentary looks at the financial and human cost of international surrogacy and exposes the harsh reality of so-called 'fertility tourism'. It mainly focuses on an Indian fertility clinic, but also visits Israel and the USA...
Stay up-to-date on all the latest developments in the fields of human fertility and genomics. And be the first to hear about upcoming events and other announcements.
Comment
Countdown begins for ending donor anonymity in British Columbia: Lessons for us all?
by Professor Eric Blyth and 1 others
The regulation of assisted human reproduction in Canada has had a long and tortuous history. Twenty one years after a Royal Commission appointed by the federal government recommended legislation (1), and following several failed attempts to get legislation through the Canadian parliament, the Assisted Human Reproduction Act 2004 came into force (2)...
Here we go again: misinformation and confusion on consanguineous marriage continues
by Professor Alan Bittles
Not having been in the audience for Professor Steve Jones' John Maddox Lecture at the Hay Festival 2011 - distance and the lack of an invitation being my excuses - I have had to rely on reports on its content in the press. And according to the testament of Jonathan Wynne-Jones, religious affairs correspondent of the Telegraph, a highly entertaining event it seems to have been...