Salk Institute researchers have developed a potential therapeutic avenue for preventing the transmission of mitochondrial diseases by selectively eliminating those mutations from eggs or early embryos.
Month: April 2015
Infertility: Causes, Remedies and Options
Baby-making seems easy. There is a lot of education, even anxiety, around preventing unwanted pregnancy once we become sexually active. But many couples dealing with infertility would dispute the notion that getting pregnant is as simple as shelving birth control. Dr. Jamie Grifo, program director for NYU’s Fertility Center, sees struggling couples in his clinic every day.
Infertility: When Adoption Is Not an Option
Justine Brooks Froelker said her infertility journey, which has not resulted in that “adorable picture of the ‘complete’ family, baby and all,” makes people uncomfortable and sad.Instead of getting angry and frustrated when she gets the question, as a therapist she shifts into educator mode and tries to help people understand that adoption is an “awesome option” for many families but it wasn’t on the table for her and her husband.
An App for Hacking Fertility Now Also Works for Men
In our culture, reproduction is often seen as women’s work. From pregnancy to childbirth through nursing a newborn child, women are often expected to take the central role in creating new life by default. Similarly, when problems of infertility arise, the focus is often slanted toward females.
‘Evil Twin’ Embryo Removed From Woman’s Brain
Doctors have discovered an embryonic twin complete with bone, hair and teeth in the brain of a woman having surgery for a suspected tumour.
Preventing Deformed Limbs: Researchers Find New Link Between Physical Forces and Limb Development
University of Toronto engineers and a pediatric surgeon have joined forces to discover how physical forces like pressure and tension affect the development of limbs in embryos—research that could someday be used to help prevent birth defects.
Chinese Scientists Genetically Modify Human Embryos
In a world first, Chinese scientists have reported editing the genomes of human embryos. The results are published1 in the online journal Protein & Cell and confirm widespread rumours that such experiments had been conducted — rumours that sparked a high-profile debate last month2, 3 about the ethical implications of such work.
Newt Gingrich: Double the N.I.H. Budget
No one who lived through the 1990s would have suspected that one day people would look back on the period as a golden age of bipartisan cooperation. But in some important ways, it was. Amid the policy fights that followed the Republican victories of 1994, President Bill Clinton and the new majorities in Congress reached one particularly good deal: doubling the budget for the National Institutes of Health.
Sofia Vergara Lawsuit Teaches Lesson For Couples Seeking IVF
It began with an anonymous court filing pitting “John Doe” against “Jane Doe.” It didn’t take long for Jane and John to be identified publicly as Modern Family‘s Sophia Vergara and creator of the Onion Crunch, Nick Loeb. Formerly engaged to be married, the ex-couple now is heading to court battling against each other over what could be a drawn-out debate involving the fundamental question: When does life begin?
Women and Cancer: Options for Preserving Fertility
As the rates of cancer continue to increase, largely because of early detection and diagnosis, the number of women looking into preserving their fertility is also on the rise.