£5.8m boost for mitochondrial disease research

An experimental genetic technique to prevent serious diseases from passing between mother and child is to receive £5.8 million funding. The Wellcome Trust is contributing £4.4 million to the new Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University...[Read More]

Human history is written in everyone's genome

Two scientists claim to have pushed the boundaries of what can be learned about the ancestral history of the human race from one person's genome. Dr Richard Durbin and Dr Heng Li from the UK's Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge used information from the genomes of only seven individuals...[Read More]

PGD could offer new hope for mitochondrial disease parents

Women at risk of passing on mitochondrial disease to their children could use PGD to give birth to an unaffected child. The scientists at Maastricht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands claim their work has the potential to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial diseases...[Read More]

IVF and the prevention of mitochondrial DNA disease: the moral issues

Medicine has faced many controversial milestones, none more so than those involving reproduction. The UK Government must now decide whether we can use IVF technology to reduce the risk of transmission of mitochondrial DNA abnormalities. Will they accept it or reject it?...[Read More]

HFEA asks scientists for advice on mitochondrial disease treatment

Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley has asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to convene an expert group 'to assess the effectiveness and safety' of a fertility treatment that would enable children to be born without potentially devastating, incurable mitochondrial diseases.

Cell's 'power cells' protect against stroke

Certain variations of mitochondrial DNA are protective against strokes, according to a recent study in The Lancet Neurology....[Read More]

New IVF technique could prevent transmission of mitochondrial disorders

A team of researchers at Newcastle University in the UK has been successful in attempts to transfer genetic material from one newly fertilised human egg to another without carrying over the egg's mitochondria (the energy-producing structures of a cell)...[Read More]

The HFE Act 2008 - an end or a beginning?

1 October 2009 marked the second and major phase of the coming into force of the amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act 1990 made by the HFE Act 2008. The first phase, in April 2009, concerned parenthood provisions and the third and final phase (expected April 2010), will affect parental orders in surrogacy arrangements. Even from a legal perspective it is unfortunate and rather baffling that these changes have been brought about by amending the original legislation...[Read More]

Can regenerative medicine defeat ageing?

The relevance of nearly all biogerontology research to combating aging is restricted to the potential for slowing down the accumulation of molecular and cellular damage that eventually leads to age-related ill-health. Meanwhile, regenerative medicine has been progressing rapidly and is nearing clinical applicability to a wide range of specific conditions...[Read More]

Reflecting on the role of PET and BioNews

We publish BioNews issue 450 as the new UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill heads from the Lords to the House of Commons. A lot has happened in the fields of human genetics, assisted reproduction and embryo research since BioNews 400, including the rejuvenation of PET! A year on, we...[Read More]

Diabetes linked to male infertility

Researchers have found that diabetes may affect sperm quality, after a study comparing the DNA in sperm from diabetic and non-diabetic men found more DNA damage in the sperm cells of the diabetic men. The study, conducted by the research group at Queen's University Belfast, with findings...[Read More]

Validity of South Korean cloned wolf research questioned

The journal Cloning and Stem Cells has announced on its website that it has pulled a scientific research paper from publication, pending the outcome of an investigation into the research data's accuracy. The research was submitted by a team of researchers at Seoul National University (SNU) led...[Read More]

British stem cell scientists seek licence to create chimeras

British scientists from three separate research centres have announced their intention to submit simultaneous proposals to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) later this month seeking a licence to create human-animal chimeras. The researchers - based in London, Newcastle and Edinburgh - are seeking approval to carry out...[Read More]

UK scientists to replace 'powerhouses' of egg cells

The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has issued a licence to a team of scientists who want to carry out research on human embryos aimed at preventing genetic conditions caused by faults in the 'powerhouses' of the cell. Researchers at the University of Newcastle, funded by the Muscular...[Read More]

New DNA project aims to track human history

A new project launched by the National Geographic Society and computer firm IBM last week aims to trace the migratory history of human populations. The five-year study, entitled 'The Genographic Project', will establish ten research groups to look at 100,000 DNA samples from people around the world. Members of the...[Read More]

UK scientists apply for 'three parent embryo' licence

Scientists at the University of Newcastle are applying for a licence to create embryos with 'three parents', in order to prevent genetic conditions caused by faults in the 'powerhouses' of the cell. Doug Turnbull and Mary Herbert have submitted an application to the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which...[Read More]

Controversy over Iceland's genetic heritage

Icelanders may not have the unique genetic heritage that gene-hunting firm deCODE Genetics had previously claimed, a new study suggests. The Icelandic biotech company is hunting for genes involved in common illnesses, using medical records and DNA samples from its country's people. It claims that Icelanders are more genetically similar...[Read More]

Cloning around

Celebrities are being offered the right to copyright their DNA by a Californian firm, in an effort to protect them from rogue cloning. Theoretically it would be possible for a fan to obtain some of their favourite star's DNA and use this for cloning to get the 'ultimate piece of...[Read More]

Three parents and a baby?

It's strange how scientific studies become news stories. Usually, science journalists trawl the reputable journals for published papers which seem to have important or controversial findings. They write up the findings in layman's terms and get them published the following day. But the latest controversy in reproductive science has taken...[Read More]

Babies born with three 'parents'

Scientists in the US have announced that babies have been born carrying the DNA of three parents: two women and a man. The babies were the result of a controversial program using ooplasmic transplantation - effectively adding cytoplasm from a donor woman's egg to that surrounding the nucleus of an infertile...[Read More]