Richard Stephens

1 month ago | progress.org.uk | Richard Stephens

The DNA-testing firm 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection and co-founder and CEO, Anne Wojcicki, has resigned with immediate effect. For the full story, please visit BBC News. In 2023 data from around one million 23andMe accounts were stolen and shared on dark web forums. The data was overwhelmingly from people with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, as well as many of Chinese descent (see BioNews 1211). The company since revealed that just less than half of its 14 million customers was affected.

1 month ago | progress.org.uk | Richard Stephens

A bill to impose limits on the number of embryos a person could store at any given time, which would have a knock-on effect on IVF, was voted down in the Tennessee House's Population Health Subcommittee of the Health Committee. The bill would also have restricted access to genetic testing on those embryos. Mollie Walker, a fertility advocate, testified in front of the subcommittee.

1 month ago | progress.org.uk | Richard Stephens |Joanne Delange

The British health insurance and healthcare company Bupa plans to offer an approach to people's genomic data that, it is claimed, can evaluate an individual's risk of developing seven common diseases. DNA extracted from a person's saliva sample is analysed in a laboratory, to assess the risk of developing each health condition from the millions of common genetic variants present in the sample.

1 month ago | progress.org.uk | Richard Stephens |Vanessa Burns

A British same-sex couple who had twins via surrogacy in Cyprus spent two months unable to leave the country. After struggling to find a surrogate in the UK, Damian and Pasan Fernando decided to explore surrogacy options abroad. Through a recommendation, the couple found the World Centre of Baby (WCoB), in Cyprus. The couple was paired with a surrogate who became pregnant with twins, conceived using an egg donor and Pasan's sperm.

1 month ago | progress.org.uk | Richard Stephens

A global study into unexplained male infertility, which may also lead to the development of a new generation of non-hormonal contraceptives for women, has received $5 million in funding from the Gates Foundation. The team, comprising scientists from the University of Birmingham, the University of Münster, Germany and University of Dundee will use new methods and tools to directly compare the sperm of fertile and infertile men. The University of Birmingham has more.