Chromosome analysis increases IVF success

A new method of looking for chromosomal abnormalities in embryos can increase the chance of successful IVF implantation, a recent study in the journal Fertilisation In Vitro has shown....[Read More]

To twin or not to twin? That is the (unasked) question

A recent spate of articles celebrating the birth of an IVF 'twin' five years after her brother left me perplexed. Why was this news, when embryo freezing has been in use since the mid-1980s? And as the children were not identical by what definition were they twins?

S.H. v Austria denies infertile Europeans human rights

Procreative liberty and the right to legal recognition of parent-child relationships continue to be prominent themes in disputes between individual citizens and government over access to assisted reproduction. The judiciary has been largely reluctant to state whether resort to reproductive technology is a human right...[Read More]

£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]

One or two embryos in IVF? It depends on your age, study says

The transfer of one or two embryos during IVF should be dependent on the age of the mother, according to a UK study...[Read More]

IVF funding cuts spark access concerns

The number of publicly funded IVF cycles dropped by nearly 14 percent this financial year in the UK, an investigation by the GP magazine Pulse has revealed...[Read More]

Book Review: Precious Babies - a donor conceived person's view

As an informal guide to having children after fertility problems, Precious Babies has much to recommend it. There is, however, an omission which, as a donor conceived (DC) person, I found particularly troublesome - the book is entirely devoid of DC voices...[Read More]

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]

Freezing embryos after IVF may result in 'healthier' babies

A new study has shown that babies born following IVF using frozen embryos may be born later and weigh more than babies born from fresh embryos....[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]

Progress Educational Trust Conference: Growing Concern?

The consequences of assisted reproductive technology (ART) are a matter of great concern, whether this is the development of the embryo, the perinatal health of the mother, or the ongoing health of the child....[Read More]

Progress Educational Trust conference: Making the grade

The third session of the Progress Educational Trust's annual conference 'The Best Possible Start in Life: The Robust and Responsive Embryo' boasted a redoubtable roll-call of eminent clinicians and researchers as speakers. This being the case, I couldn't help wondering if the decision to limit such luminaries to ten minutes apiece was a wise one...[Read More]

Overstretched regulator to police IVF clinics

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) will take over policing of IVF clinics, despite worries it cannot cope with the additional workload...[Read More]

Frozen embryos 'lost' by Ramsgate IVF

A fertility clinic in Kent is under investigation after reports that staff may have lost a woman's embryos. Alison Austin-Hennessy, 31, said she and her husband Michael were informed by a consultant at the private Chaucer Hospital that their embryos had been misplaced....[Read More]

Progress Educational Trust Conference: Introduction to the embryo and its out of body experience

Progress Educational Trust (PET)'s annual conference, 2011, 'The Best Possible Start in Life: The Robust and Responsive Embryo', started with two fantastic sessions chaired by Dr Virginia Bolton, consultant embryologist at the assisted conception unit at Guy's Hospital, London, UK....[Read More]

First of three women in US 'baby-selling' ring sentenced

A former lawyer convicted of wire fraud and other charges after her involvement in a 'baby-selling' ring has been sentenced to five months imprisonment by a Californian court....[Read More]

TV Review: Donor (episode of Moving On)

'All I want is some bodily fluids, are you really going to begrudge me that?' - 'Donor', the third episode in BBC One's contemporary daytime drama series 'Moving On' tackled issues of infertility, sperm donation, parenthood and the societal expectation on women to become mothers...[Read More]

'Stolen' sperm spawns twins, lawsuit

A man is suing a US fertility clinic in negligence for 'mental and economic injuries' after alleging it used his 'stolen' sperm to impregnate his girlfriend without his consent....[Read More]

Smokers denied access to assisted conception

An increasing number of NHS clinics that provide assisted reproduction technologies (ART) are denying treatment to women who smoke or have a partner who smokes. But is it appropriate for any lifestyle factors to be used to deny state-funded treatment? And where should the line be drawn between medical 'advice' and 'restrictions'?...[Read More]

Embryo relinquishment for family building – what's in a name?

In the US the relinquishment of embryos for family building is the subject of intense ideological debate. This has occurred not least because of the competing discourses of models of 'embryo donation' and 'embryo adoption'...[Read More]