Study brings sickle-cell gene therapy one step closer
A genetically engineered virus that triggers the production of an alternative form of haemoglobin has reversed the symptoms of sickle cell disease in mice...
News
Ten-year egg-freezing limit should be changed
Following the increase in 'social' egg freezing, the ten-year time limit on the storage of human eggs should be removed, according to a leading academic at the London School of Economics....
Women freeze eggs to find the right partner
A study of women opting to freeze their eggs for non-medical reasons has revealed that the most common motivation given was not yet finding the right partner...
Research towards a developing a synthetic ovary
Researchers in Belgium have taken the first steps towards producing a transplantable artificial ovary after demonstrating successful follicle survival in mice...
FDA warns against ovarian cancer screening tests
The FDA has warned that it does not recommend the use of any currently available ovarian cancer screening tests to detect the disease...
CRISPR shrinks tumours in mice
Scientists from China have managed to shrink the size of tumours in mice using CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing technology...
Simple blood test could be 'smoke detector' for throat cancer
A blood test costing only £35 could help in the early diagnosis of oesophageal cancer and could be available in five years' time...
Reviews
Event Review: Gene editing — exploring the Canadian context
Gene editing, in particular CRISPR/Cas9 technology, is sweeping the scientific world and has been receiving ample attention from policymakers worldwide. Policy statements and academic papers regarding responsible ways of moving forward with gene editing have already been published...
Book Review: The Gene — An Intimate History
'The Gene: An Intimate History' is the latest book from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee. Taking a similar approach to his previous work 'The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer', Mukherjee interweaves his personal history with a comprehensive and extensive review of the history of genetic research...
Comment
Shortage of organs for transplantation — is more research on human—animal chimeras the right approach?
by Dr Silvia Camporesi and 1 others
By focusing all our attention on the ethics of human—animal hybrids, we may be overlooking non-technical solutions to the short supply of human organs for transplantation...