Life Sciences and Chemistry

UK Scientists are leading research which seeks to unlock the migratory secrets of endangered marine turtles at all four corners of the Atlantic this summer. Members of the public are invited to log on and follow their progress on a ground breaking free access website provided by USA non-profit SEATURTLE.ORG.

This summer, marine turtle scientists from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation of the University of Exeter in Cornwall are working with a range of national and international

Abnormalities in the spindles (the bi-polar thread like structures that link and pull the chromosomes during cell division) of human embryos before implantation may be the primary reason for many of the chromosome defects observed in early human development, a scientist said on Wednesday 30 June 2004 at the 20th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. Dr. Katerina Chatzimeletiou, from the Bridge Fertility Centre, London, UK, told the conference that her resear

Five children have been born conceived from previously isolated and frozen egg cells, Italian scientists announced today (Wednesday 30 June 2004) at the 20th annual conference of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology. The method bears great promise for patients who live in countries where embryo cryopreservation (freezing) is prohibited, like Italy, or who object to embryo freezing for personal reasons, said Dr. Paolo Levi Setti from the Istituto Clinico Humanitas in Milan.

Doctors in Denmark have succeeded in producing a two-cell embryo after ovarian tissue was removed, frozen, and then thawed and replaced two years later. It is believed that this is the first time a European group has succeeded in creating an embryo in this way.

Dr. Claus Yding Andersen told the 20th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology: “It is only a matter of time before a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child after having a thawed ovar

A new £18M Medical Research Council (MRC) facility to understand and compare the genetics of disease in mice and humans will be opened today, Wednesday 30 June, by Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science and Technology.

The Mary Lyon Centre, at Harwell, Oxfordshire, headed by professor Bob Johnson, will primarily support research carried out at the neighbouring MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit which uses mouse genetics to understand what human genes do and how they contribute to health and disease,

Vital food crops will be protected worldwide under a new international agreement which comes into force today.

The UK is one of more than 50 countries committed to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which aims to improve food security and promote sustainable farming.

The treaty aims to ensure that plant genetic resources, which are the property of the country in which they are found, are conserved, used sustainably, and that their benefit