Gene link to depression under question

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has called into question a previously reported link between a gene variation and risk of depression. The study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and carried out by scientists from six US universities, was led by Dr Kathleen Merikangas from the NIMH Intramural Research program and Dr Neil Risch of the University of California, San Francisco....[Read More]

Healthy diet may improve sperm quality

A diet rich in steak and other red meat might hinder a man's chances of conceiving a child, say Spanish researchers. According to their study published in the journal 'Fertility and Sterility', a healthy antioxidant-rich diet might be the key to sperm quality and motility. Men who eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, in particular peppers, spinach and citrus fruits, have higher quality and faster swimming sperm....[Read More]

Genetic discrimination of people with family history of Huntington's disease

A study by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada and published in the British Medical Journal has shown that individuals at risk of Huntington's disease (HD) are often discriminated against by insurance companies, and also by their own relatives and friends. They also found that this discrimination was based on family history of the disease rather than any genetic test results....[Read More]

Scientists fix genetic defect in human cells

A team of scientists led by Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California has combined stem cell technology and gene therapy to fix a genetic mutation in human cells grown in the laboratory. The researchers, who published their achievement in Nature, hope that this technique could one day be used to treat a number of inherited conditions in humans....[Read More]

Scientists create transgenic glowing monkeys to aid research

A team of researchers led by Dr Erika Sasaki at the Central Institute for Experimental Animals in Kawasaki, Japan has created monkeys that glow, by inserting a gene from jellyfish into their DNA. The research, published in the journal Nature, showed that the transgene was passed on...[Read More]

66 year old women is Britain's oldest mother-to-be

The record for Britain's oldest women to give birth will be broken next month by 66 year old Elizabeth Munro, from Cambridge. It is thought that Ms Munro, who is single and a successful business woman, travelled to the Ukraine to become pregnant using donor eggs and...[Read More]

Household chemicals could threaten male reproductive health

A report written by leading reproductive biologist Professor Richard Sharpe from the Medical Research Council in Edinburgh, UK, has called attention to the dangers of chemicals present in household consumer products. The report concludes that exposure to a cocktail of hormone disrupting chemicals in our environment, particularly...[Read More]

Africa is most genetically diverse continent, DNA study shows

In the most comprehensive study of African genetic diversity to date, a team of international scientists, led by Dr Sarah Tishkoff from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, US, has revealed Africa to be the most genetically diverse continent on Earth. The findings could be used as...[Read More]

New study provides more genetic clues to autism

New research, led by Professor Hakon Hakonarson from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and published in the journal Nature, has identified for the first time common genetic variations that could explain 15 per cent of autism cases. Several genes have been previously linked to autism, but these...[Read More]