Book Review: Knock Yourself Up

Were it not for the unconventional way she conceived her child, Louise Sloan would otherwise seem like a characteristic New York yummy mummy. Author and magazine editor, she manages to balance her family life with her young toddler with her busy work schedule, with the help of a live-in nanny and flexible working hours. However, single and lesbian, Sloan became pregnant with her son Scott through donor insemination, and her experience of assisted reproductive technology as a single woman is t...[Read More]

Book Review: Defending the Genetic Supermarket

The philosopher Robert Nozick introduced the idea of a genetic supermarket in 1974, before the first IVF birth and the era of medical genetics. At the genetic supermarket, he imagined, prospective parents could shop for desired traits, and design a child to their particular specifications. In 'Defending the Genetic Supermarket', Colin Gavaghan explores the ethics underlying the use of assisted reproductive technologies, in particular preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), as well as the cur...[Read More]

Genetic markers poor at heart disease prediction

A genetic risk score based on several genetic markers associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) does not improve the prediction of CVD risk, research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has suggested...[Read More]

Bushmen neighbours are genetically continents apart

Comparing the genomes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and !Gubi, a Khoisan elder from the Kalahari, reveals that, although they are geographical neighbours, their genomes are as different from each other as they are from European or Asian individuals. These findings, published in the journal Nature, reflect the extent of human genetic diversity on the African continent....[Read More]

Small RNAs help stem cells change state

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, have discovered that microRNA (miRNA) play a key role in the switch in state between a stem cell and a mature, differentiated cell...[Read More]

New technique creates genetic disease models in human stem cells

Scientists at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), US, have developed a technique to transfer modified genes known to cause disease in humans into human embryonic stem (ES) cell cell lines. The modified ES cells behave like diseased cells and can be used to study human genetic diseases in the laboratory. The new technique provides an alternative approach to mouse 'knock out' models of disease....[Read More]

First synthetic biology code of conduct launched

There is a risk that advances in synthetic biology and low-cost DNA sequencing and synthesis could lead to the misuse of genetic technologies for bioterrorism purposes, where sequences of DNA could be ordered from a commercial gene synthesis provider and genetically engineered into a biological warfare agent....[Read More]

Adult tissue reprogrammed into stem cells faster

Researchers at the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), lead by Professor Rudolf Jaenisch, have identified genetic pathways that can speed up the process of reprogramming mature adult cells into stem cells, known as iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cells....[Read More]

Gene variant provides clues to mental illness

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, have identified a gene that may be involved in mental illness and maintaining brain health. The scientists compared the genes of 2,000 psychiatric patients and 2,000 healthy people in Scotland. They discovered that the ABCA13 gene was faulty more frequently in patients with severe mental illness - such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression - than in the healthy control group....[Read More]

Fertility drugs linked to increased cancer risk

Women who use fertility drugs may be at increased risk of developing cancer of the uterus. Dr Ronit Calderon-Margalit and colleagues at Hadassah-Hebrew University in Jerusalem studied 15,000 women who gave birth 30 years ago. They found that those who used fertility drugs were more likely to...[Read More]

Gene links fertility and appetite

By Rachael Dobson: Researchers at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, US have found that the TORC1 gene in the brain controls both appetite and fertility. TORC1 acts as a 'master switch' that, when turned on, reduces food intake and allows pregnancy to occur, they report in the journal...[Read More]

Venter endorses personalized genomic medicine

As the price of genetic sequencing of an individual's DNA drops, personalized medical genomics will become increasingly integral to prescribing drugs and treating illnesses, leading genome researcher Craig Venter wrote in a commentary for the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. He predicts that genome-based healthcare will help to...[Read More]