A number of media outlets are reporting that scientists want to create designer babies with the DNA of three parents to prevent children inheriting life-threatening diseases. Here an independent expert responds.
Sun Feb 5, 2012
A number of media outlets are reporting that scientists want to create designer babies with the DNA of three parents to prevent children inheriting life-threatening diseases. Here an independent expert responds.
Thu Oct 13, 2011
Embargo lifted 4am AEDT Thu 13 Oct 2011 UK scientists were able to treat liver disease in mice with a combination of stem cells and genetic correction therapy. The research, to be published in Nature, demonstrates the feasibility of combining human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with genetic correction to generate clinically relevant cells for [...]
Thu Oct 6, 2011
EMBARGO lifted 8am AEDT Thursday October 6, 2011 US scientists have questioned GM monitoring protocols in the US after investigating escapee canola plants living outside of cultivated fields. These populations were found to persist from year to year and reach thousands of individuals. The authors also found that the escaped plants could hybridise with each [...]
Fri May 21, 2010
A well known American geneticist, Craig Venter, and colleagues claim to have invented the first ‘synthetic life’. In an article in the journal Science, the scientists describe how they created a synthetic genome of the bacterium M. mycoides and incorporated it into another bacterium M. capricolum with its own genome removed. The bacterium was directed [...]
Thu Apr 15, 2010
In a world-first study published in Nature, scientists have shown in human embryos a new technique developed last year in monkeys to treat maternally-inherited mitochondrial diseases. The study describes the first ever transfer of genetic material between fertilised human eggs which has the potential to ‘treat’ human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) disease at a genetic level. [...]
Fri Apr 9, 2010
A team of scientists, including three Australians, have uncovered the skeletal remains of a new species of ancient human. The researchers suggest the species – named Australopithecus sediba – could be a direct ancestor to Homo erectus, the predecessor of modern humans.
Fri Jan 15, 2010
New Australian research shows that exposure of a fetus to alcohol during the first half of pregnancy results in changes to the expression of genes as adults, according to a new mouse model study.
Fri Nov 6, 2009
What better time than Melbourne Cup week to reveal the first ever complete genetic sequence of the horse. The Australian led project has successfully sequenced the genome of a grey horse named Twilight.