The French Justice Minister's instruction to courts to accept citizenship applications for children born via surrogates in other countries has unleashed a political and popular furore...
The bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB) evade immune cells and drug treatments by hiding in bone marrow stem cells, according to research...
The UK High Court has granted permission to two sperm donors in a same-sex relationship to apply for contact with their biological children, conceived through a known donation arrangement with two lesbian couples....
A DNA test has been developed to see if couples carry the 'ginger gene'...
A genetic variant frequently found in Chinese populations may explain why severe complications from swine flu are more common in China. The discovery may also have implications for other influenza virus strains and help scientists understand why flu outbreaks hit some populations harder than others....
Ottawa fertility doctor Norman Barwin has been suspended from practising medicine for two months after artificially inseminating women with the wrong sperm. Five women were involved in four incidents of receiving the wrong sperm between 1986 and 2007....
The planned Tumuor Profiling Unit at The Institute for Cancer Research, London will focus on sequencing the DNA of cancer tumours to help diagnose and monitor different types of cancer, and to also identify those more likely to respond to particular treatments....
Aged stem cells can be returned to a younger, more active state by increasing the activity of a single gene...
In 2010, Professor Sir Robert Edwards was awarded a long overdue Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for his the part he played in pioneering both the theory and practice of IVF. This conference focused on the kind of cutting-edge research that takes Professor Edwards' legacy forward...
Shortly after being awarded the 2012 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine, Professor Sir John Gurdon was interviewed for the BBC Radio 4 programme 'The Life Scientific'...
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
The role of counsellors in infertility clinics
by Dr Ellie Lee and 2 others
Counselling has become an increasingly central — and sometimes mandatory — part of the provision of infertility treatment services in the UK, although its role is not always clearly defined. In a recent research project, we interviewed sixty-six staff, with different roles at twenty clinics that provide infertility treatment services (around one quarter of the total). Our research offered some interesting insights into the role of counsellors in this process....