Book Review: Ethical Challenges in Genomics Research - A Guide to Understanding Ethics in Context

While it's not designed to be something that is read from cover to cover, this textbook is clearly and well written, readable and accessible, with regular call-out boxes providing examples and case studies... [Read More]

TV Review: Horizon - Are You Good or Evil?

Good and evil have always been moral perspectives, but this edition of BBC One's science programme Horizon has pulled them firmly into the scientific realm, with an analysis of the science behind good and evil.... [Read More]

Cancer treatment should be based on gene 'fingerprints', says study

Genetic analysis of tumours provides the key to treating them effectively, according to two studies carried out by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).... [Read More]

Rare form of autism treated with dietary supplement

A rare form of autism, caused by a mutation that alters amino acid metabolism, could potentially be treated with a nutritional supplement, according to an international team of researchers... [Read More]

Five million IVF babies born to date, study says

A study estimates that five million people worldwide have been born thanks to assisted reproductive technologies... [Read More]

Personalised medicine details diabetes development for one scientist

Personalised medicine doesn't get much more personal than this. For more than two years, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have been focusing on one person's genetic profile – that of their colleague and fellow geneticist, Dr Michael Snyder... [Read More]

Gene survey: Do you want to know your future diseases?

The idea of whole genome sequencing is becoming ever more popular, but it could mean you end up with more information than you bargained for; from your resistance to certain drugs to your risk of developing a range of diseases. But would you want to know? The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute ethics team has launched a survey to find out what people really do (and don't) want to know about their genomes... [Read More]

First chimeric monkeys born in US

Three chimeric rhesus monkeys born in the USA have been described as the world's first primate chimeras... [Read More]

Mouse study offers hope for treating leading genetic cause of infant death

Researchers have made a step forward in the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, a serious genetic disorder, by using a stretch of RNA to trigger mice into producing a back-up version of a missing protein... [Read More]

Aspirin cuts hereditary bowel cancer risk by 60 percent

Taking a daily aspirin has been recommended for people with a high risk of an inherited form of bowel cancer. Results published in The Lancet suggested the risk for those with Lynch syndrome could be cut by 63 percent... [Read More]

Mapping the epigenome: Europe leads the way

The European Commission (EC) is investing €30 million in BLUEPRINT, a project to map the human epigenome - the sum total of the non-coding, but inherited, modifications to DNA... [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]