Preimplantation genetic diagnosis and the welfare of the healthy selected child

Preimplanatation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a technique that allows couples from families with history of certain inheritable diseases to try and reduce their risk of having a child affected by the condition.... [Read More]

Remembering Robert Edwards, 1925-2013

Robert Geoffrey Edwards, or 'Bob' as his colleagues and friends knew him, is one of the true giants of the 20th century... [Read More]

Book Review: A Matter of Life - The Story of IVF, A Medical Breakthrough

In the UK, around one in six couples has difficulty conceiving, and it is this desire to have children that drove two awe-inspiring men – Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe – to work together to perfect a technique known as IVF... [Read More]

People with Marfan syndrome must be supported in starting families free of the disease

Marfan syndrome is a terrible disease. Families must have access to preimplantation genetic diagnosis to limit the genetic impact on their families in the future... [Read More]

Policing preimplantation genetic diagnosis: patients first please

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority recently announced plans to review the list of approved inherited conditions for which preimplantation genetic diagnosis is currently licensed to ensure that it is only available for conditions which meet the statutory requirements in the UK... [Read More]

German court case may put an end to a sperm donor's anonymity

A regional appeals court in Hamm, Germany has ruled that a 22-year-old woman conceived via an anonymous sperm donor has a legal right to find out the identity of her biological father... [Read More]

Video Review: Mitochondria Replacement - Some Facts

Mitochondrial replacement has been making the headlines this year, but understanding the science behind it is no small task. Cue a whiteboard, some marker pens and two informative narrators... [Read More]

IVF embryo testing gets go-ahead in Ireland

Couples in Ireland undergoing IVF treatment will now be able to access tests to check for genetic and chromosomal conditions. Previously couples had to go abroad for the tests, which are widely offered in the UK, but they have now been licensed for use in two Irish clinics.

Wealthy couples flock to USA to avoid UK sex selection ban, IVF medic claims

Dr Jeffrey Steinberg, a British IVF specialist who is now director of a pair of private clinics in the USA has claimed that dozens of couples see him every year to select the sex of their babies... [Read More]

Italian ban on embryo screening violated couple's rights

Italy has violated the rights of a couple carrying cystic fibrosis by preventing them from screening embryos using PGD, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled. The Strasbourg-based court ordered the Italian government to pay the couple 17,500 euros in damages and expenses.... [Read More]

Mitochondria in the media

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has published a new report: 'Novel techniques for the prevention of mitochondrial DNA disorders: an ethical review'. Dr Geoff Watts, chair of the working party that wrote it, offers some personal reflections on a few of its key conclusions... [Read More]

Film Review: A Moral Dilemma - Saviour Sibling or Spare Part Baby?

Is creating a life to save another immoral? That is the question the winners of the year 12 to 13 category of Nuffield Council's 'Box Office Bioethics' film competition attempt to answer.... [Read More]

'Faithful judgments' in bioethics

We know very little about what 'ordinary' lay members of faith groups - those who are not scientists, philosophers or religious leaders - think about the acceptability of new reproductive and genetic technologies. A team of researchers from Newcastle and Durham Universities is currently carrying out research exploring some of these issues and would like your help... [Read More]

Beyond the treatment of infertility

The advent of PGD extended the scope of IVF beyond the treatment of infertility. PGD is predominantly used to prevent transmission of genetic defects arising from mutations in nuclear DNA. However, it can also be used to reduce the risk of transmitting mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which cause a range of debilitating and life-threatening diseases... [Read More]

With an eye to the future - preliminary results of clinical trial in human embryonic stem cell-based therapy of macular degeneration

Last week, Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) of Massachusetts, USA, made two important announcements regarding human embryonic stem (hES) cell-based therapies for the potential treatment of Stargardt's dystrophy and age-related macular degeneration, two devastating degenerative disease leading to blindness.... [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]

Perhaps the Government is right to plan to abolish the HFEA

Perhaps the Government is right to plan to abolish the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The astonishing behaviour of its members at last week's open Authority meeting over compensation for egg and sperm donors will lower its reputation in the eyes of some of its erstwhile supporters. Those who might have manned the barricades to halt the Government's plans may now wonder whether the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – the health and social care regulator set to take over the H... [Read More]

Comic Review: How to Have a Baby - The Comic Book for Infertile Couples

The 744-page book covers the causes of infertility, imaging techniques, assisted reproductive techniques, surrogacy, donor gametes and adoption... [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]