Gene therapy brings pig hearts back down to size
Heart failure can be reversed using gene therapy, with the effect being amplified when two genes are used together, a study in pigs has found...
News
Nanoscale construction project on time and on budget
A system that allows researchers to control a tiny cellular transport network has been developed by researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Warwick...
Depression may speed up DNA ageing
Severe depression speeds up the ageing process of our cells, researchers have found...
Lesbian couple sue hospital after being 'refused IVF'
Two women claim to have been refused IVF treatment on the NHS at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester on the basis of their sexuality...
Women with asthma take longer to get pregnant
Researchers in Denmark have found that women with asthma take longer to become pregnant compared to non-asthmatics. The results add to an emerging body of evidence showing that asthma affects fertility...
HFEA loses legal battle on enforcement of multiple birth quotas
The UK's High Court has ruled against the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority saying its actions towards two clinics over a licence condition to impose a maximum multiple birth rate were unlawful. The HFEA has now decided to withdraw the condition from all UK fertility clinics' licences...
Reviews
Book Review: Life's Vital Link
In this book on the placenta, the shortest-lived human organ, we find out about the fascinating immunological paradox of pregnancy as well as the effects of maternal, paternal, and even retroviral genes in the functioning of the placenta...
Comment
Why rare disease research isn't just about rare diseases
by Oliver Timmis
The idea of a rare disease informing wider knowledge about fundamentals of biology is now well established. We have shown it in alkaptonuria research, as alkaptonuria (which affects around 80 people in the UK) is an extreme form of osteoarthritis (which affects more than eight million)...
In defence of privacy
by Dr Stuart Hogarth
Is the newly launched Personal Genome Project's public disclosure policy the best response to the difficulties of safeguarding genomic confidentiality?...