Gene editing success for haemophilia |
11 July 2011 - by Dr Caroline Hirst |
Scientists have, for the first time, successfully treated a blood disorder by repairing errors in the DNA of a living animal. Researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, together with California-based Sangamo BioSciences, have applied an innovative genome editing technique to treat haemophilia B, which affects around one in 30,000 boys and men... [Read More] |
US stem cell legislation to be introduced |
11 July 2011 - by Nisha Satkunarajah |
New legislation to permit federal funds to be used for research on embryos, which would otherwise be destroyed following IVF, will be introduced to the US Congress.... [Read More] |
Do healthy gums improve your chances of being a mum? |
11 July 2011 - by Dr Jay Stone |
Women with poor oral health take on average two months longer to conceive than those with healthy gums, Australian scientists have shown.... [Read More] |
Germany allows PGD for life-threatening genetic defects |
11 July 2011 - by Nishat Hyder |
The German parliament has passed a new law allowing PGD in limited circumstances. Under the new law, couples undergoing IVF can use PGD to screen embryos only if the parents have a predisposition to a serious genetic illness... [Read More] |
Betting for a baby: To Hatch launches an IVF lottery |
11 July 2011 - by Dr Kimberley Bryon-Dodd |
A controversial lottery, offering 25,000 worth of IVF treatment as a prize, has been given the go ahead. The Gambling Commission has licensed To Hatch, a UK charity offering fertility advice, to sell tickets to win the fertility treatment in a monthly draw.... [Read More] |
Could drinking while pregnant harm your baby's DNA? |
11 July 2011 - by Dr Rosie Morley |
Alcohol can cause irreparable DNA damage and fetal abnormalities in pregnant mice, a study has found. The findings may explain how excessive drinking during pregnancy causes fetal alcohol syndrome, which can lead to lifelong learning disabilities... [Read More] |
First synthetic windpipe transplant is a success |
11 July 2011 - by Dr Rebecca Robey |
Surgeons have successfully transplanted a synthetic organ into a human for the first time. In a groundbreaking operation, a cancer patient's windpipe was replaced with an artificial replica that had been grown using his own stem cells.... [Read More] |
Sperm, smoking, screening and more |
11 July 2011 - by Sarah Pritchard |
Some of the highlights from the 27th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction (ESHRE) in Stockholm include good news for sperm donation in the UK; advice about how to reduce the effects of tobacco on unborn children; a 'non invasive' screening technique for chromosomal abnormalities in embryos; and a mathematical model to help reduce multiple births in IVF procedures... [Read More] |
Australian sex-offender seeks access to IVF |
11 July 2011 - by Kyrillos Georgiadis |
An Australian man is seeking to overturn a ruling barring him and his partner from accessing IVF on the grounds of his previous conviction in 2003 for having sex with a 16-year-old student while he was employed as a teacher's aide.... [Read More] |