Rise in 'selective reproduction' due to increase in IVF, experts say

There has been a rise in the number of British women choosing to give birth to fewer children following multiple pregnancy, leading to renewed calls for restrictions on the number of embryos implanted during IVF....[Read More]

Progress Educational Trust Conference: Should Assisted Conception Always Be Evidence-Based?

In what is now synonymous with Progress Educational Trust (PET)'s ethos, the final session of the annual conference, 'The Best Possible Start in Life: The Robust and Responsive Embryo', was a free-form debate. Following on from the previous sessions where a wealth of eminent researchers gave informative and often provocative talks, Guardian columnist Zoe Williams had the task of chairing what proved to be an entertaining debate...[Read More]

Vitamins improve pregnancy rates of subfertile women in small study

Women receiving fertility treatment are more likely to become pregnant if they take multivitamin supplements, reports a UK pilot study...[Read More]

Gene knock-out creates diabetes-free, mighty mice

Mice that don't produce a certain protein in their fat cells do not develop type 2 diabetes despite an increase in weight, scientists report. In a separate study, the same research group also managed to double the physical performance of mice by removing the same protein from their muscle cells...[Read More]

An embryo is not a person say Mississippi voters

Voters in the US state of Mississippi have voted against a proposed constitutional amendment that would have defined life as beginning at fertilisation. The proposed amendment would have afforded embryos and fetuses – whether conceived naturally or artificially - similar legal protection as that covering all US citizens but was rejected by over 55 per cent of voters on 8 November...[Read More]

Young genes in young humans provide clue to brain evolution

Genes that other species do not possess may play a crucial role in making the human brain what it is. Until recently scientific consensus held that the different use of genes shared across most of the animal kingdom gave each species' brain its unique character. However this hypothesis may need some revision following a study led by Professor Manyuan Long of the University of Chicago...[Read More]

Event Review: Playing God - Who Should Regulate Reproductive Medicine?

Should women who choose their career first, and children second, be allowed to receive IVF on the NHS at an age when some would consider it 'unnatural'? Now ask whether it's acceptable for young soldiers fighting in Afghanistan to store their sperm in case they don't come back. And the questions surrounding reproductive medicine don't end there: after insemination, how much screening or manipulation of genetic material is reasonable?...[Read More]

Aligning research legislation: interspecies embryos and animals containing human material

In 2008, important changes were made to the legislation governing the use of human embryos in research, the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFE Act) 1990. The legislation was extended to five categories of 'human admixed embryos' containing human and animal cellular or genetic components, which were brought within the licensing regime of the HFE Act...[Read More]

Stem cell patch to prevent premature birth

Tissue engineers from the UK have, for the first time, developed an artificial fetal membrane from human stem cells to be used as a ‘repair patch' to prevent premature births...[Read More]

Life after death: The ethics of posthumous gamete use

A recent court case in Israel has generated much controversy after a judge allowed the family of deceased 17-year-old Chen Aida Ayish to extract and freeze her eggs posthumously. At the time, the family also requested permission to fertilise the eggs but it is now understood to have retracted its request – reportedly in the face of public pressure...[Read More]

Reflections on the ethical debate surrounding non-invasive prenatal genetic diagnosis

An up-and-coming technology will soon allow genetic testing of a fetus with a simple maternal blood test early in the first trimester of the pregnancy by isolating cell-free fetal DNA in the mother's plasma. Currently, obtaining reliable diagnostic genetic information requires invasive testing with Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis. Both carry a risk of miscarriage and are performed between weeks 10 and 20 of the pregnancy...[Read More]

The great delay: 33 years after the first 'test-tube' baby

July marked the 33rd birthday of the world's first 'test-tube' baby. Since then, four million babies have been born thanks to IVF. Many more have not. The treatment does not guarantee pregnancy and the side effects remain severe. Yet there is a brutal dishonesty. IVF is considered almost routine. Because women - and men – don't talk frankly about their fertility struggles, we continue to get a skewed message...[Read More]

Radio Review: The First 1,000 Days - A Legacy for Life (Future Generations)

The immediate impact of environmental factors like diet, smoking and stress on health are well understood. But less is known about how your lifestyle can directly effect the health of your unborn children and grandchildren...[Read More]

Radio Review: The First 1,000 Days - A Legacy for Life (In the Womb)

In this first episode of a new documentary series, medical correspondent Dr Mark Porter investigated how developmental events in the womb have an astonishing impact on long-term adult health...[Read More]

Genetic flaw leaves no trace – mutation causing a lack of fingerprints identified

Imagine getting to immigration and struggling to get into a country, not because you don't have a passport or legal status, but because you have no fingerprints. People with adermatoglyphia, also known as 'immigration delay disease', have missing fingerprints from birth, and have reduced levels of sweat glands in their skin. Researchers now think they have isolated the genetic mutation behind this rare disorder....[Read More]

TV Review: Sextuplets - The Little Lambs    

'Sextuplets: The Little Lambs' tells the extraordinary story of the Lamb family. Vicky and Andy Lamb are the first parents of sextuplets born in Britain for 17 years...[Read More]

TV Review: Should I Test My Genes? The Price of Life

Adam Wishart's documentary charted his personal journey to discover the secrets hidden in his genes. After his mother's death from breast cancer, Adam wanted to discover whether he too is genetically at risk of developing the disease. Looking at his immediate family history, he found seven of his mother's 14 brothers, sister and cousins died from cancer. Adam's mother, aunt and grandmother all had breast cancer...[Read More]

Ovarian stimulation linked to egg abnormalities in older mothers

European researchers have linked ovarian stimulation in women aged over 35 to increased chromosomal abnormalities. Genetic screening shows that the production of oocytes is disrupted during fertility treatment involving ovarian stimulation...[Read More]

Event Review: Selective Reproduction, Bioethics, and the Idea of Eugenics

A seminar entitled 'Selective Reproduction, Bioethics, and the Idea of Eugenics' held at the Wellcome Collection Conference Centre on 6 June attempted to untangle what is meant by the contemporary 'idea of eugenics' in relation to bioethics and, specifically, selective reproduction. Stephen Wilkinson, professor of Bioethics at Keele University and author of 'Choosing Tomorrow's Children: The ethics of selective reproduction', asked the question: 'Is the fact that an action or policy is a case...[Read More]

Vatican official criticises Nobel Prize for IVF pioneer

A Vatican official has criticised the decision to award British IVF pioneer Professor Robert Edwards the Nobel Prize in Medicine, saying the choice was 'very perplexing'...[Read More]