Frozen sperm as effective as fresh when taken directly from testicle
Sperm taken by biopsy from the testicles of men with a certain kinds of infertility can be cryopreserved without reducing the chances of a successful pregnancy...
News
NICE approves test for genetic markers of breast cancer
A new diagnostic test that detects whether breast cancer has spread has been recommended for use in NHS practice by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)...
Scientists call for more mutant bird flu experiments
Two scientists behind a controversial H5N1 avian flu publication last year, which deliberately modified the virus to become more transmissible to humans, hope to perform similar experiments on a new flu strain...
Family of Henrietta Lacks given a say over her cells
An agreement between the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the family of Henrietta Lacks will give the family some say in how genetic data from the cell line is used....
Fertility app offers to fund treatment for women who can't conceive
A fertility app has been launched that will help pay for treatment for women who are unable to conceive after ten months of using the program...
Antioxidants 'do not improve women's fertility'
There is no evidence to suggest taking antioxidant supplements will help infertile women become pregnant, according a review of fertility clinic trials published in The Cochrane Library...
Reviews
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
Radio Review: Inside the Ethics Committee - Assisted Conception and Disability
Joan Bakewell presents the case of Rosemary, a 36-year-old woman with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome undergoing IVF...
Radio Review: A donation for life
After a German court ruled that a 22-year-old woman conceived via sperm donation could know the identity of her biological father, radio station 1Live caught up with her and took a look into the world of assisted conception in Germany...
Comment
Genes express proteins, not happiness
by Dr Stuart Derbyshire
The authors of a recent study suggest that measuring gene expression is a good indicator of human happiness, and that pursuing a higher purpose is the better way to live. Both those claims are dubious...
The implications of the proposed EU data protection reform on biomedical research
by Dr Jane Kaye and 1 others
European data protection and privacy law is in a state of flux as its governing legislation is in a process of being amended to create a unified regime for data protection across Europe....