The UK's Human Genetics Commission (HGC) launched a major consultation on the future use of genetic information, in a public meeting held at the Centre for Life in Newcastle today. The document, entitled 'Whose hands on your genes?', focusses on the nature of genetic information and its potential impact in...
An Australian research team has found that women who are very overweight or underweight are less likely to become pregnant following IVF treatment. The scientists studied over 3,500 women who underwent fertility treatment in Adelaide between 1987 and 1998. Their results, published in the British Medical Journal, show that obesity...
The UK government announced last week that genetics researchers will receive extra funding of £110 million over the next three years. Genomics receives so much of the £725m cash injection for British science because of the potential scope it offers, according to the Government's science budget document. The money is...
Scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have developed an accurate, non-invasive test to identify Down's syndrome, using fetal cells present in the mother's blood. The researchers, who reported their results in last week's issue of The Lancet, successfully used the new technique to identify three fetuses affected by...
The government of Tonga has granted Australian biotech firm Autogen the right to ask all the inhabitants of its 170 islands for DNA samples and medical information. The resulting medical database will be used to identify genes involved in diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. The company chose...
Scientists have successfully treated the symptoms of type 1 diabetes in rats and mice using gene therapy. The researchers, based at the University of Calgary in Canada and Yonsei University Medical School in Korea, injected a modified insulin gene into the pancreas of the affected animals. The treatment worked in...
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Genes and the public
by Juliet Tizzard
Today, the UK's Human Genetics Commission (HGC) published the mother of all consultation papers. At 56 pages long, it is certainly no bedtime read. It will require quite a commitment of time and intellectual effort on the part of the respondent to read the consultation and answer the questions its...