Embryonic spinal cord precursor cells generated for first time
Scientists have generated the specialised cells in the embryo that go on to form spinal cord, muscle and bone tissue and used them to produce nerve and muscle cells...
News
Thymus grown in mice following cell transplant
Researchers from the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Edinburgh, UK, have for the first time produced complete working organs from genetically 'reprogrammed' cells. Engineered cells were inserted into adult mice, where they grew into what appeared to be functional thymuses....
Illumina partners big pharma for 'one gene test fits all' approach to cancer
The DNA sequencing company Illumina have announced collaborations with three major pharmaceutical companies - AstraZeneca, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson - to develop a single test for several gene mutations in cancer...
Man accused of fathering 12 surrogate babies in Thailand
A Japanese businessman may have fathered up to 15 children using Thai surrogates, 12 of whom remain in Thailand....
Over 500 UK sperm donors have 'fathered' more than ten children each
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has revealed that 504 sperm donors in the UK have between them 'fathered' more than 6,200 children....
Epigenetic changes linked to Alzheimer's
Researchers have identified a connection between DNA methylation and Alzheimer's disease, gaining a further understanding into the underlying causes of this neurodegenerative condition....
Reviews
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Book Review: Law, Policy and Reproductive Autonomy
The legal framework for the regulation and provision of assisted reproductive technologies is situated within enormous social change, not least in the construction of the family, personal health management and expectations around access to emerging medical technologies....
Comment
Beyond the harm threshold
by Professor Anna Smajdor
Underlying many controversies in reproductive technology is an assumption that there is a 'harm threshold' — a point at which a child would suffer so much that it would have been harmed by coming into existence. This idea has an intuitive appeal, but the questions it raises are very difficult to answer...