Issue 172 (27 August 2002)

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Frozen embryo battles

27 August 2002 - by Juliet Tizzard

This week's BioNews reports on news that two women are to make a human rights challenge to the law on assisted reproduction. Natallie Evans and Lorraine Hadley want to use their frozen embryos to try for their own babies even though their former partners - the men who provided the sperm...[Read More]

Human rights claim in frozen embryos disputes

27 August 2002 - by BioNews

Two British women have begun parallel legal actions to prevent the destruction of frozen embryos created with the sperm of their former partners. Natallie Evans, who is 30, and 37-year old Lorraine Hadley both want to use the frozen embryos stored at IVF clinics to have a baby of...[Read More]

Womb transplant successful in mice

27 August 2002 - by BioNews

Scientists from Goteborg University in Sweden have announced that they have successfully achieved pregnancies in mice that had undergone uterus transplants. The research is reported in the Journal of Endocrinology. Dr Mats Brannstrom and his colleagues transplanted uteruses into other mice, placing them alongside their existing uteruses in order to...[Read More]

Adult stem cells not as versatile as thought?

27 August 2002 - by BioNews

Research published in the journal Science has cast doubt on the versatility of adult stem cells. In experiments to see whether stem cells may be used in potential therapies for neurological and brain diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease, the scientists report that stem cells taken from the bone...[Read More]

Rise in IVF success rates

27 August 2002 - by BioNews

A British newspaper has discovered that IVF success rates are rising. The Sunday Times newspaper conducted its own survey of 35 of the 74 IVF clinics in the UK and has found that in the year 2000-2001, women of all ages have, on average, a 29 per cent chance...[Read More]

And this little piggy...

27 August 2002 - by BioNews

PPL Therapeutics, the Scottish biotechnology firm behind the creation of Dolly the sheep, has reported that it has produced four cloned piglets which may bring scientists a step closer to being able to use pig organs in human transplants. On Christmas Day last year, a set of piglets was born...[Read More]