Who would have thought.
From: FOCUS MAGAZINE
Issue 229, June 2011
Section: ROUND UP
Genetics
Spiky Penis mystery solved
Researchers at Stanford University in California think they’ve identified how humans lost the spikes our ancestors had on their penises. It’s thought the loss of a particular bit of DNA that controls a hormone gene is likely to be behind the change. It was believed the spines were used to remove the sperm of competitors who had mated with a female. It’s thought that the loss would have reflected a more monogamous reproductive strategy.
sex
Showing posts with label genetics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genetics. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, May 10, 2010
Male Extinction
Good-bye males. Brave New World, women only.
The infertility timebomb: Are men facing rapid extinction?
By Tamara Sturtz
Last updated at 8:19 AM on 10th May 2010
Daily Mail.co.uk
One in five men could suffer from fertility problems. And scientists have warned that it's just going to get worse...
There's a crisis brewing, but it has nothing to do with the economic deficit or the current political uncertainty. Scientists are warning that rising levels of male infertility have become so perilous that it is a serious 'public health issue'. And some go even further.
Professor Niels Skakkebaek, of the University of Copenhagen, describes the issue 'as important as global warming'. Last week, one science writer even suggested, in starkly terrifying terms, that if scientists from Mars were to study the male reproductive system, they would possibly conclude that man was destined for rapid extinction.
And if it continues, this trend could indicate men are on a path to becoming completely infertile within a few generations.
Reports claim that as many as one in five healthy young men between the ages of 18 and 25 produce abnormal sperm counts.
Only 5 to 15 per cent of their sperm is good enough to be classed as 'normal' under World Health organisation rules - proving that infertility is not just a female problem. Indeed, among those experiencing difficulty with conception, a male fertility problem is considered important in about 40 per cent of couples.
But women trying to get pregnant are facing another astonishing claim: that the core problems of male fertility - while they may be exacerbated by environmental issues - start in the womb.
'Sperm counts are declining and there is mounting evidence that the problem starts even before birth,' says Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services.
She cites growing evidence that although the process of sperm production - known as spermatogenesis - starts in adolescence, the crucial preparations are made in the few months before and after birth.
Factors such as women eating a lot of beef during pregnancy - which means they have consumed a diet rich in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are potentially damaging chemicals - to the issue of obesity during pregnancy and a woman's exposure to smoke, pesticides, traffic fumes, plastics and even soya beans are all thought to have a bearing on a male foetus's future fertility.
Experts talk of a 'window' of testicular development that begins in the growing foetus and ends in the first six months of life. Problems in this period mean that the baby boy may never be able to produce babies of his own.
It's a theory that Karl Tonks, a clinical skills trainer, is particularly interested in. Karl, 47, and his teaching assistant wife Lorraine, 41, consider themselves among the lucky ones: they have two healthy children, despite Karl's low sperm count. Their twins Ben and Kira, now 12, were born as a result of arduous and expensive IVF.
Like many men, Karl was given no particular reason for his low sperm count. The news that it would be impossible for him to have a child came as a shock.
'We'd been trying for a baby since we got married. I had no idea there was a problem, and there was never a reason given. It was just one of those things.'
Was it, though? Karl admits that he always wondered if the fact that his mother took Thalidomide while pregnant with him could have had any influence on his infertility.
'My mother took Thalidomide for morning sickness. When the scandal broke in 1962, GPs offered free abortions, but my mother was too far gone by two weeks.'
Unlike the majority of Thalidomide babies, Karl was born seemingly healthy. But he has suffered from asthma since birth.
'Since the infertility was diagnosed, I started questioning whether there were underlying problems caused by the drug. My younger brother doesn't have any fertility problems. Nobody has done research into "normal" Thalidomide babies.'
Lorraine and Karl illustrate perfectly the toll that difficulties in conceiving can take on a marriage. Karl confesses that, so distraught were they - 'eight years of thinking of nothing else' is how he puts it - that at one stage he suggested they should divorce. But Lorraine says: 'I just couldn't even think of it.'
After a series of failed intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) attempts, where Karl's sperm was placed in Lorraine's uterus, the couple moved on to IVF.
The treatment involved intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a procedure where a single sperm is injected into the egg. Even though a single healthy sperm could not be found, Karl was able to have testicular sperm extraction (TESE), which involves passing a needle into the testis to remove a piece of tissue, from which developing sperm were taken.
Incredibly, that resulted in eight fertilised embryos. In April 1998 their twins, Ben and Kira, were born. Their father drove down the street shouting: 'I'm a dad!'
Like Lorraine and Karl, Ed Farmer, 41, an IT specialist, and his wife, Rebecca, also 41, are still left guessing as to the causes of Ed's infertility.
'We were told that Ed had practically zero per cent sperm,' says Rebecca.
But after seven years of tests and treatment, they are no closer to knowing why.
'It was a terrible shock and desperately disappointing to be facing the possibility of IVF,' explains Ed.
Their fertility consultant recommended ICSI. Both Ed and Rebecca were 33, and their hopes were high, especially after several healthy sperm were retrieved using TESE.
'We believed our consultant when he said: "Let's make you a baby",' says Ed.
But treatment failed and they were told to consider using donor sperm. However, they went through two more cycles of treatment.
'We wanted to give it everything we could,' explains Ed. By this time, they were both 35.
'We had to make some major decisions', says Rebecca. It was putting a huge strain on their relationship, and they had withdrawn from their friends and family.
'We felt it was us against the world,' says Rebecca. 'We were so fed up of everyone around us having babies and not understanding what we were going through. Comments such as "At least you have a lovely husband and a nice house" weren't helpful. We even considered moving abroad.'
Rebecca threw herself into researching multiple IVF and ICSI failure on the internet, and concluded that not all clinics are the same.
Ed says: 'It was important for me to see an andrologist, somebody who specialises in male infertility. But they are not readily available in the UK.'
'We looked at it very rationally and were prepared to spend £15,000,' says Rebecca.
Research had been carried out in the U.S. in hormonal therapy for men with fertility problems. After remortgaging their home, Ed and Rebecca went to New York.
'I had the first proper examination throughout all our treatment,' says Ed.
He was put on Clomid, the hormone that women are given when they don't ovulate regularly, followed by ICSI. Although this created only one embryo, it resulted in the birth of their beautiful daughter, Ruby, now three.
Ed and Rebecca wanted a sibling for Ruby. After another cycle of treatment in New York, their twins, Tom and Rose, were born two days before Rebecca's 40th birthday.
Ed and Rebecca are very proud parents and thrilled that they defied the odds. But they are also angry.
' So many men are denied the opportunity to become biological fathers through an apparent lack of investigation into male infertility,' says Rebecca.
'We have met couples who have gone through many failed cycles of treatment at great financial and emotional cost, who have gone on to have "miracle babies" abroad, after being dismissed by UK clinics. It is so sad that the country that invented IVF should have failed to progress much beyond the expensive and impersonal production line of treatment that is currently on offer.'
Meanwhile, Lorraine and Karl Tonks are following the latest research with interest. It suggests that if their son Ben is to have fertility problems of his own, it may be too late to do anything about it. This concerns Karl.
'I worry that I may have passed my infertility on to my son. He has asthma, but as there are no adult ICSI children yet, we probably won't know for another few years.
'I will encourage him to get his fertility checked when he is old enough.'
Lorraine, however, points out that there are drawbacks to knowing too much, too soon.
'On the one hand, if we'd known earlier that there was no chance of us getting pregnant naturally, then we'd have saved a lot of time and heartache, seeking help sooner. On the other hand, can I honestly say that we would have ended up married had I known Karl couldn't have children? Who knows? It's very tricky.'
It will get even trickier as more efforts are made to unravel the mystery of male sperm production, a mystery to which 'Mother', whether she likes it or not, seems to hold the key.
genetics
The infertility timebomb: Are men facing rapid extinction?
By Tamara Sturtz
Last updated at 8:19 AM on 10th May 2010
Daily Mail.co.uk
One in five men could suffer from fertility problems. And scientists have warned that it's just going to get worse...
There's a crisis brewing, but it has nothing to do with the economic deficit or the current political uncertainty. Scientists are warning that rising levels of male infertility have become so perilous that it is a serious 'public health issue'. And some go even further.
Professor Niels Skakkebaek, of the University of Copenhagen, describes the issue 'as important as global warming'. Last week, one science writer even suggested, in starkly terrifying terms, that if scientists from Mars were to study the male reproductive system, they would possibly conclude that man was destined for rapid extinction.
And if it continues, this trend could indicate men are on a path to becoming completely infertile within a few generations.
Reports claim that as many as one in five healthy young men between the ages of 18 and 25 produce abnormal sperm counts.
Only 5 to 15 per cent of their sperm is good enough to be classed as 'normal' under World Health organisation rules - proving that infertility is not just a female problem. Indeed, among those experiencing difficulty with conception, a male fertility problem is considered important in about 40 per cent of couples.
But women trying to get pregnant are facing another astonishing claim: that the core problems of male fertility - while they may be exacerbated by environmental issues - start in the womb.
'Sperm counts are declining and there is mounting evidence that the problem starts even before birth,' says Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services.
She cites growing evidence that although the process of sperm production - known as spermatogenesis - starts in adolescence, the crucial preparations are made in the few months before and after birth.
Factors such as women eating a lot of beef during pregnancy - which means they have consumed a diet rich in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are potentially damaging chemicals - to the issue of obesity during pregnancy and a woman's exposure to smoke, pesticides, traffic fumes, plastics and even soya beans are all thought to have a bearing on a male foetus's future fertility.
Experts talk of a 'window' of testicular development that begins in the growing foetus and ends in the first six months of life. Problems in this period mean that the baby boy may never be able to produce babies of his own.
It's a theory that Karl Tonks, a clinical skills trainer, is particularly interested in. Karl, 47, and his teaching assistant wife Lorraine, 41, consider themselves among the lucky ones: they have two healthy children, despite Karl's low sperm count. Their twins Ben and Kira, now 12, were born as a result of arduous and expensive IVF.
Like many men, Karl was given no particular reason for his low sperm count. The news that it would be impossible for him to have a child came as a shock.
'We'd been trying for a baby since we got married. I had no idea there was a problem, and there was never a reason given. It was just one of those things.'
Was it, though? Karl admits that he always wondered if the fact that his mother took Thalidomide while pregnant with him could have had any influence on his infertility.
'My mother took Thalidomide for morning sickness. When the scandal broke in 1962, GPs offered free abortions, but my mother was too far gone by two weeks.'
Unlike the majority of Thalidomide babies, Karl was born seemingly healthy. But he has suffered from asthma since birth.
'Since the infertility was diagnosed, I started questioning whether there were underlying problems caused by the drug. My younger brother doesn't have any fertility problems. Nobody has done research into "normal" Thalidomide babies.'
Lorraine and Karl illustrate perfectly the toll that difficulties in conceiving can take on a marriage. Karl confesses that, so distraught were they - 'eight years of thinking of nothing else' is how he puts it - that at one stage he suggested they should divorce. But Lorraine says: 'I just couldn't even think of it.'
After a series of failed intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) attempts, where Karl's sperm was placed in Lorraine's uterus, the couple moved on to IVF.
The treatment involved intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a procedure where a single sperm is injected into the egg. Even though a single healthy sperm could not be found, Karl was able to have testicular sperm extraction (TESE), which involves passing a needle into the testis to remove a piece of tissue, from which developing sperm were taken.
Incredibly, that resulted in eight fertilised embryos. In April 1998 their twins, Ben and Kira, were born. Their father drove down the street shouting: 'I'm a dad!'
Like Lorraine and Karl, Ed Farmer, 41, an IT specialist, and his wife, Rebecca, also 41, are still left guessing as to the causes of Ed's infertility.
'We were told that Ed had practically zero per cent sperm,' says Rebecca.
But after seven years of tests and treatment, they are no closer to knowing why.
'It was a terrible shock and desperately disappointing to be facing the possibility of IVF,' explains Ed.
Their fertility consultant recommended ICSI. Both Ed and Rebecca were 33, and their hopes were high, especially after several healthy sperm were retrieved using TESE.
'We believed our consultant when he said: "Let's make you a baby",' says Ed.
But treatment failed and they were told to consider using donor sperm. However, they went through two more cycles of treatment.
'We wanted to give it everything we could,' explains Ed. By this time, they were both 35.
'We had to make some major decisions', says Rebecca. It was putting a huge strain on their relationship, and they had withdrawn from their friends and family.
'We felt it was us against the world,' says Rebecca. 'We were so fed up of everyone around us having babies and not understanding what we were going through. Comments such as "At least you have a lovely husband and a nice house" weren't helpful. We even considered moving abroad.'
Rebecca threw herself into researching multiple IVF and ICSI failure on the internet, and concluded that not all clinics are the same.
Ed says: 'It was important for me to see an andrologist, somebody who specialises in male infertility. But they are not readily available in the UK.'
'We looked at it very rationally and were prepared to spend £15,000,' says Rebecca.
Research had been carried out in the U.S. in hormonal therapy for men with fertility problems. After remortgaging their home, Ed and Rebecca went to New York.
'I had the first proper examination throughout all our treatment,' says Ed.
He was put on Clomid, the hormone that women are given when they don't ovulate regularly, followed by ICSI. Although this created only one embryo, it resulted in the birth of their beautiful daughter, Ruby, now three.
Ed and Rebecca wanted a sibling for Ruby. After another cycle of treatment in New York, their twins, Tom and Rose, were born two days before Rebecca's 40th birthday.
Ed and Rebecca are very proud parents and thrilled that they defied the odds. But they are also angry.
' So many men are denied the opportunity to become biological fathers through an apparent lack of investigation into male infertility,' says Rebecca.
'We have met couples who have gone through many failed cycles of treatment at great financial and emotional cost, who have gone on to have "miracle babies" abroad, after being dismissed by UK clinics. It is so sad that the country that invented IVF should have failed to progress much beyond the expensive and impersonal production line of treatment that is currently on offer.'
Meanwhile, Lorraine and Karl Tonks are following the latest research with interest. It suggests that if their son Ben is to have fertility problems of his own, it may be too late to do anything about it. This concerns Karl.
'I worry that I may have passed my infertility on to my son. He has asthma, but as there are no adult ICSI children yet, we probably won't know for another few years.
'I will encourage him to get his fertility checked when he is old enough.'
Lorraine, however, points out that there are drawbacks to knowing too much, too soon.
'On the one hand, if we'd known earlier that there was no chance of us getting pregnant naturally, then we'd have saved a lot of time and heartache, seeking help sooner. On the other hand, can I honestly say that we would have ended up married had I known Karl couldn't have children? Who knows? It's very tricky.'
It will get even trickier as more efforts are made to unravel the mystery of male sperm production, a mystery to which 'Mother', whether she likes it or not, seems to hold the key.
genetics
Monday, April 19, 2010
Science and Fat People
Well, we will need to remove these genes from babies, or risk serious health care problems later in life. Isn't science wonderful.
Gene makes people fat, raises Alzheimer's risk
By Julie Steenhuysen
April 19, 2010
Reuters
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A variant of an obesity gene carried by more than a third of the U.S. population also reduces brain volume, raising carriers' risk of Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
People with a specific variant of the fat mass and obesity gene, or FTO gene, have brain deficits that could make them more vulnerable to the mind-robbing disease.
"The basic result is that this very prevalent gene not only adds an inch to your waistline, but makes your brain look 16 years older," said Paul Thompson, a professor of neurology at the University of California Los Angeles, who worked on the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Brains generally shrink with age.
The study compared brain scans of more than 200 people and found consistently less tissue in the brains of people who carry the "bad" version of the FTO gene compared to non-carriers.
On average, people with the obesity variant of the FTO gene had 8 percent less tissue in their frontal lobes -- sometimes referred to as the brain's "command center." They also had 12 percent less tissue in their occipital lobes, which is the part of the brain that processes vision and other perceptions.
Thompson said reduced brain volume raises a person's risk for Alzheimer's disease by reducing the amount of brain reserve a person has to compensate if the brain plaques linked to Alzheimer's form. Stroke can also reduce brain tissue, depleting the brain's reserve.
DIET AND EXERCISE
The added brain risk means it is more important for people who carry the FTO gene to eat a low-fat diet and exercise regularly, he said.
A 2008 study of Amish people who had the FTO risk gene but were physically active found they weighed about the same as non-carriers, suggesting that physical activity can overcome a genetic predisposition to obesity.
People with two copies of the FTO gene variant on average weigh nearly 7 pounds (3 kg) more and are about 70 percent more likely to be obese than those who do not have the gene.
"In all the maelstrom of activities you do, exercise and a low-fat diet are genuinely saving your brain from both stroke and Alzheimer's," Thompson said.
For the study, Thompson's team compared magnetic resonance images taken of the brains of 206 healthy people between age 55 and 90 at 58 centers. The centers were taking part in the five-year Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, which is examining the factors that help aging brains resist disease.
Because so many people carry the obesity version of the FTO gene, Thompson said the findings may drive research into new drug compounds to alter the effects on the brain.
Short of that, he said the findings should lead carriers to eat less and exercise more.
There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia affecting 26 million people globally.
Current treatments help with some symptoms, but cannot reverse the course of the disease, leading many scientific teams to look for ways to prevent it.
The study is available at
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0910878107
fat
Gene makes people fat, raises Alzheimer's risk
By Julie Steenhuysen
April 19, 2010
Reuters
CHICAGO (Reuters) – A variant of an obesity gene carried by more than a third of the U.S. population also reduces brain volume, raising carriers' risk of Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
People with a specific variant of the fat mass and obesity gene, or FTO gene, have brain deficits that could make them more vulnerable to the mind-robbing disease.
"The basic result is that this very prevalent gene not only adds an inch to your waistline, but makes your brain look 16 years older," said Paul Thompson, a professor of neurology at the University of California Los Angeles, who worked on the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Brains generally shrink with age.
The study compared brain scans of more than 200 people and found consistently less tissue in the brains of people who carry the "bad" version of the FTO gene compared to non-carriers.
On average, people with the obesity variant of the FTO gene had 8 percent less tissue in their frontal lobes -- sometimes referred to as the brain's "command center." They also had 12 percent less tissue in their occipital lobes, which is the part of the brain that processes vision and other perceptions.
Thompson said reduced brain volume raises a person's risk for Alzheimer's disease by reducing the amount of brain reserve a person has to compensate if the brain plaques linked to Alzheimer's form. Stroke can also reduce brain tissue, depleting the brain's reserve.
DIET AND EXERCISE
The added brain risk means it is more important for people who carry the FTO gene to eat a low-fat diet and exercise regularly, he said.
A 2008 study of Amish people who had the FTO risk gene but were physically active found they weighed about the same as non-carriers, suggesting that physical activity can overcome a genetic predisposition to obesity.
People with two copies of the FTO gene variant on average weigh nearly 7 pounds (3 kg) more and are about 70 percent more likely to be obese than those who do not have the gene.
"In all the maelstrom of activities you do, exercise and a low-fat diet are genuinely saving your brain from both stroke and Alzheimer's," Thompson said.
For the study, Thompson's team compared magnetic resonance images taken of the brains of 206 healthy people between age 55 and 90 at 58 centers. The centers were taking part in the five-year Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, which is examining the factors that help aging brains resist disease.
Because so many people carry the obesity version of the FTO gene, Thompson said the findings may drive research into new drug compounds to alter the effects on the brain.
Short of that, he said the findings should lead carriers to eat less and exercise more.
There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia affecting 26 million people globally.
Current treatments help with some symptoms, but cannot reverse the course of the disease, leading many scientific teams to look for ways to prevent it.
The study is available at
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0910878107
fat
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Women, Men, Sex, and Children: Which one/s of these isn't needed anymore.
For quite some time, it was men who had to worry about becoming unnecessary - women could have children without men. They would simply have a few donors (a lot more than a few) and choose from the selection and be impregnated by IVF. Women would need a genetic stock around - say 10,000 men in each country to keep the genetic pool from becoming inbred, but ... the rest of us would become unnecessary. Or, get all the males alive to donate, then send them off to greener pastures, and use the donations given via IVF, select the gender of your child - X number of males to be used for reproduction, and the rest females.
All that was conceievable in a future world controlled by women.
Now, neither gender is needed.
No men OR women needed: Scientists create sperm and eggs from stem cells
Fiona Macrae
28th October 2009
Daily Mail
Human eggs and sperm have been grown in the laboratory in research which could change the face of parenthood.
It paves the way for a cure for infertility and could help those left sterile by cancer treatment to have children who are biologically their own.
But it raises a number of moral and ethical concerns. These include the possibility of children being born through entirely artificial means, and men and women being sidelined from the process of making babies.
Forever fertile? Infertile men and women could have their own biological children using the breakthrough sperm and eggs
Opponents argue that it is wrong to meddle with the building blocks of life and warn that the advances taking place to tackle infertility risk distorting and damaging relations between family members.
The U.S. government-funded research also offers the prospect of a 'miracle pill' which staves off the menopause, allowing women to wait longer to have a child.
It centres on stem cells, widely seen as a repair kit for the body.
Scientists at Stanford University in California found the right cocktail of chemicals and vitamins to coax the cells into becoming eggs and sperm.
Controversial: Britain's oldest mother Elizabeth Adeney, 67, who went abroad for IVF, is pictured here with her newborn son in June this year
The sperm had heads and short tails and are thought to have been mature enough to fertilise an egg.
The eggs were at a much earlier stage but were still much more developed than any created so far by other scientists.
The double success, published in the journal Nature, raises the prospect of men and women one day 'growing' their own sperm and eggs for use in IVF treatments.
The American team used stem cells taken from embryos in the first days of life but
hope to repeat the process with slivers of skin.
The skin cells would first be exposed to a mixture which wound back their biological clocks to embryonic stem cell state, before being transformed into sperm or eggs.
Starting with a person's own skin would also mean the lab-grown sperm or eggs would not be rejected by the body.
The science also raises the possibility of 'male eggs' made from men's skin and 'female sperm' from women's skin.
This would allow gay couples to have children genetically their own, although many scientists are sceptical about whether it is possible to create sperm from female cells, which lack the male Y chromosome.
The U.S. breakthrough could unlock many of the secrets of egg and sperm production, leading to new drug treatments for infertility.
Defects in sperm and egg development are the biggest cause of infertility but, because many of the key stages occur in the womb, scientists have struggled to study the process in detail.
Researcher Rita Reijo Pera, of Stanford's Centre for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, believes new fertility drugs are just five years away.
However, safety and ethical concerns mean that artificial sperm and eggs are much further away from use.
Dr Reijo Pera said any future use of artificial eggs and sperm would have to be subject to guidelines.
'Whether one builds the boundaries on religion or just on an internal sense or of right and wrong, these are important. In this field, it is not "anything goes".'
Scientists at Newcastle University claimed to have made sperm from embryonic stem cells earlier this year but the research paper has been retracted.
Dr Allan Pacey, a Sheffield University expert in male fertility said: 'Ultimately this may help us find a cure for male infertility. Not necessarily by making sperm in the laboratory, I personally think that is unlikely, but by identifying new targets for drugs or genes that may stimulate sperm production to occur naturally.
'This is a long way off, but it is a laudable dream.'
Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said that IVF should be the preserve of married couples.
'The question is, why are we creating artificial gametes (eggs and sperm) and aborting 200,000 babies a year when there are many, many couples willing to adopt?'
Josephine Quintavalle, of the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, warned that any flaws in the artificial sperm or eggs could be passed on to future generations.
Anthony Ozimic, of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: 'The use of artificial gametes in reproduction would distort and damage relations between family members.
'There are no instances of any major medical advance achieved by abandoning basic ethical principles such as safeguarding the right to life.'
genetics
All that was conceievable in a future world controlled by women.
Now, neither gender is needed.
No men OR women needed: Scientists create sperm and eggs from stem cells
Fiona Macrae
28th October 2009
Daily Mail
Human eggs and sperm have been grown in the laboratory in research which could change the face of parenthood.
It paves the way for a cure for infertility and could help those left sterile by cancer treatment to have children who are biologically their own.
But it raises a number of moral and ethical concerns. These include the possibility of children being born through entirely artificial means, and men and women being sidelined from the process of making babies.
Forever fertile? Infertile men and women could have their own biological children using the breakthrough sperm and eggs
Opponents argue that it is wrong to meddle with the building blocks of life and warn that the advances taking place to tackle infertility risk distorting and damaging relations between family members.
The U.S. government-funded research also offers the prospect of a 'miracle pill' which staves off the menopause, allowing women to wait longer to have a child.
It centres on stem cells, widely seen as a repair kit for the body.
Scientists at Stanford University in California found the right cocktail of chemicals and vitamins to coax the cells into becoming eggs and sperm.
Controversial: Britain's oldest mother Elizabeth Adeney, 67, who went abroad for IVF, is pictured here with her newborn son in June this year
The sperm had heads and short tails and are thought to have been mature enough to fertilise an egg.
The eggs were at a much earlier stage but were still much more developed than any created so far by other scientists.
The double success, published in the journal Nature, raises the prospect of men and women one day 'growing' their own sperm and eggs for use in IVF treatments.
The American team used stem cells taken from embryos in the first days of life but
hope to repeat the process with slivers of skin.
The skin cells would first be exposed to a mixture which wound back their biological clocks to embryonic stem cell state, before being transformed into sperm or eggs.
Starting with a person's own skin would also mean the lab-grown sperm or eggs would not be rejected by the body.
The science also raises the possibility of 'male eggs' made from men's skin and 'female sperm' from women's skin.
This would allow gay couples to have children genetically their own, although many scientists are sceptical about whether it is possible to create sperm from female cells, which lack the male Y chromosome.
The U.S. breakthrough could unlock many of the secrets of egg and sperm production, leading to new drug treatments for infertility.
Defects in sperm and egg development are the biggest cause of infertility but, because many of the key stages occur in the womb, scientists have struggled to study the process in detail.
Researcher Rita Reijo Pera, of Stanford's Centre for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, believes new fertility drugs are just five years away.
However, safety and ethical concerns mean that artificial sperm and eggs are much further away from use.
Dr Reijo Pera said any future use of artificial eggs and sperm would have to be subject to guidelines.
'Whether one builds the boundaries on religion or just on an internal sense or of right and wrong, these are important. In this field, it is not "anything goes".'
Scientists at Newcastle University claimed to have made sperm from embryonic stem cells earlier this year but the research paper has been retracted.
Dr Allan Pacey, a Sheffield University expert in male fertility said: 'Ultimately this may help us find a cure for male infertility. Not necessarily by making sperm in the laboratory, I personally think that is unlikely, but by identifying new targets for drugs or genes that may stimulate sperm production to occur naturally.
'This is a long way off, but it is a laudable dream.'
Dr Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said that IVF should be the preserve of married couples.
'The question is, why are we creating artificial gametes (eggs and sperm) and aborting 200,000 babies a year when there are many, many couples willing to adopt?'
Josephine Quintavalle, of the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, warned that any flaws in the artificial sperm or eggs could be passed on to future generations.
Anthony Ozimic, of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: 'The use of artificial gametes in reproduction would distort and damage relations between family members.
'There are no instances of any major medical advance achieved by abandoning basic ethical principles such as safeguarding the right to life.'
genetics
Friday, October 23, 2009
Gay Sheep
What to do with gay sheep? Hmm. I know, let's adjust their hormones and see what we can come up with. Hold on, say some folks who fear having homosexuality bred out!
TimesOnline - London Times, December 31, 2006
The Sunday Times
Science told: hands off gay sheep
Isabel Oakeshott and Chris Gourlay
Experiments that claim to "cure" homosexual rams spark anger
Scientists are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of 'gay" sheep ina programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homsexuality in humans.
The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes.
It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance their offspring will be homsexual. Experts say that, in theory, the "straightening" procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mother-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch.
[There is considerably more, but I cannot type it all and the article is not available unless I pay for it.]
One further point from the article -
[Martina] Navratilova defended the "right" of the sheep to be gay. She said: "How can it be that in the year 2006 a major university would host such homophobic and cruel experiments?" She said gay men and lesbians would be "deeply offended" by the social implications of the tests.
gay
TimesOnline - London Times, December 31, 2006
The Sunday Times
Science told: hands off gay sheep
Isabel Oakeshott and Chris Gourlay
Experiments that claim to "cure" homosexual rams spark anger
Scientists are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of 'gay" sheep ina programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homsexuality in humans.
The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes.
It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance their offspring will be homsexual. Experts say that, in theory, the "straightening" procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mother-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch.
[There is considerably more, but I cannot type it all and the article is not available unless I pay for it.]
One further point from the article -
[Martina] Navratilova defended the "right" of the sheep to be gay. She said: "How can it be that in the year 2006 a major university would host such homophobic and cruel experiments?" She said gay men and lesbians would be "deeply offended" by the social implications of the tests.
gay
Monday, March 2, 2009
Genetics: I'll take a blonde female and a boy with brown hair. Wrap em up.
The day has arrived. Actually, it arrived some time ago, but was not as public as it is today.
Goodbye father, goodbye mother ... goodbye family ... hello spawn of science.
Designer baby row over US clinic
BBC News
March 2, 2009
A US clinic has sparked controversy by offering would-be parents the chance to select traits like the eye and hair colour of their offspring.
The LA Fertility Institutes run by Dr Jeff Steinberg, a pioneer of IVF in the 1970s, expects a trait-selected baby to be born next year.
His clinic also offers sex selection.
UK fertility experts are angered that the service will distract attention from how the same technology can protect against inherited disease.
The science is based on a lab technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD.
“ I would not say this is a dangerous road. It's an uncharted road ” Dr Steinberg.
This involves testing a cell taken from a very early embryo before it is put into the mother's womb.
Doctors then select an embryo free from rogue genes - or in this case an embryo with the desired physical traits such as blonde hair and blue eyes - to continue the pregnancy, and discard any others.
Dr Steinberg said couples might seek to use the clinic's services for both medical and cosmetic reasons.
For example, a couple might want to have a baby with a darker complexion to help guard against a skin cancer if they already had a child who had developed a melanoma. But others might just want a boy with blonde hair.
His clinic is offering this cosmetic selection to patients already having genetic screening for abnormal chromosome conditions in their embryos.
“ This is the inevitable slippery slope of a fertility process which results in many more embryos being created than can be implanted ” Josephine Quintavalle of Comment on Reproductive Ethics.
"Not all patients will qualify for these tests and we make NO guarantees as to 'perfect prediction' of things such as eye colour or hair colour," says the clinic's website.
Dr Steinberg said: "I would not say this is a dangerous road. It's an uncharted road."
He said the capability to offer such services had been around for years, but had been ignored by the medical community.
"It's time for everyone to pull their heads out of the sand."
Slippery slope
But Dr Gillian Lockwood, a UK fertility expert and member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' ethics committee, questioned whether is was morally right to be using the science in this way.
"If it gets to the point where we can decide which gene or combination of genes are responsible for blue eyes or blonde hair, what are you going to do with all those other embryos that turn out like me to be ginger with green eyes?"
She warned against "turning babies into commodities that you buy off the shelf."
Josephine Quintavalle of Comment on Reproductive Ethics said: "This is the inevitable slippery slope of a fertility process which results in many more embryos being created than can be implanted. Choices will always have to be made. Do you choose octuplets or the ones with the prettiest noses?"
In the UK, sex selection is banned and choices are currently permitted only in relationship to the baby's health.
Italian fertility law does not permit the creation of surplus embryos or selective testing. Ms Quintavalle said that was "one sure way to avoid the slippery slope".
Meanwhile, new legislation in the UK, due to come in on 6 April, will allow IVF mothers to name anyone as "father" on the birth certificate - even another woman.
The only restriction on naming a second parent will be if they are close blood relatives or if the second person does not agree.
genetics
Goodbye father, goodbye mother ... goodbye family ... hello spawn of science.
Designer baby row over US clinic
BBC News
March 2, 2009
A US clinic has sparked controversy by offering would-be parents the chance to select traits like the eye and hair colour of their offspring.
The LA Fertility Institutes run by Dr Jeff Steinberg, a pioneer of IVF in the 1970s, expects a trait-selected baby to be born next year.
His clinic also offers sex selection.
UK fertility experts are angered that the service will distract attention from how the same technology can protect against inherited disease.
The science is based on a lab technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD.
“ I would not say this is a dangerous road. It's an uncharted road ” Dr Steinberg.
This involves testing a cell taken from a very early embryo before it is put into the mother's womb.
Doctors then select an embryo free from rogue genes - or in this case an embryo with the desired physical traits such as blonde hair and blue eyes - to continue the pregnancy, and discard any others.
Dr Steinberg said couples might seek to use the clinic's services for both medical and cosmetic reasons.
For example, a couple might want to have a baby with a darker complexion to help guard against a skin cancer if they already had a child who had developed a melanoma. But others might just want a boy with blonde hair.
His clinic is offering this cosmetic selection to patients already having genetic screening for abnormal chromosome conditions in their embryos.
“ This is the inevitable slippery slope of a fertility process which results in many more embryos being created than can be implanted ” Josephine Quintavalle of Comment on Reproductive Ethics.
"Not all patients will qualify for these tests and we make NO guarantees as to 'perfect prediction' of things such as eye colour or hair colour," says the clinic's website.
Dr Steinberg said: "I would not say this is a dangerous road. It's an uncharted road."
He said the capability to offer such services had been around for years, but had been ignored by the medical community.
"It's time for everyone to pull their heads out of the sand."
Slippery slope
But Dr Gillian Lockwood, a UK fertility expert and member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' ethics committee, questioned whether is was morally right to be using the science in this way.
"If it gets to the point where we can decide which gene or combination of genes are responsible for blue eyes or blonde hair, what are you going to do with all those other embryos that turn out like me to be ginger with green eyes?"
She warned against "turning babies into commodities that you buy off the shelf."
Josephine Quintavalle of Comment on Reproductive Ethics said: "This is the inevitable slippery slope of a fertility process which results in many more embryos being created than can be implanted. Choices will always have to be made. Do you choose octuplets or the ones with the prettiest noses?"
In the UK, sex selection is banned and choices are currently permitted only in relationship to the baby's health.
Italian fertility law does not permit the creation of surplus embryos or selective testing. Ms Quintavalle said that was "one sure way to avoid the slippery slope".
Meanwhile, new legislation in the UK, due to come in on 6 April, will allow IVF mothers to name anyone as "father" on the birth certificate - even another woman.
The only restriction on naming a second parent will be if they are close blood relatives or if the second person does not agree.
genetics
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Choose Your Sex
Choose the sex of your child? fifty years ago - sci fi stuff. Today, reality.
Choose the eye color of your child? twenty years ago - sci fi stuff. Today, reality.
Amazing the progress.
Fertility clinic in US gets green light for sex selection trial
Ian sample, science correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday October 27, 2005
A clinical trial into the effects of allowing couples to choose the sex of their babies has been given the go-ahead at a US fertility clinic. The controversial study was given the green light by an ethics committee after nine years of consultation. The purpose of the study is to find out how cultural notions, family values and gender issues feed into a couple's desire to choose the gender of their child.
Choose the eye color of your child? twenty years ago - sci fi stuff. Today, reality.
Amazing the progress.
Fertility clinic in US gets green light for sex selection trial
Ian sample, science correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday October 27, 2005
A clinical trial into the effects of allowing couples to choose the sex of their babies has been given the go-ahead at a US fertility clinic. The controversial study was given the green light by an ethics committee after nine years of consultation. The purpose of the study is to find out how cultural notions, family values and gender issues feed into a couple's desire to choose the gender of their child.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Crime
I wonder if they will now find the stupid gene. Or the gene that makes people prone to believe the stupidest ideas / theories.
People with a particular variation of the MAOA gene called 2R were very prone to criminal and delinquent behavior, said sociology professor Guang Guo, who led the study.
"I don't want to say it is a crime gene, but 1 percent of people have it and scored very high in violence and delinquency," Guo said in a telephone interview.
crime
genetics
Study finds genetic link to violence, delinquency
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
Mon Jul 14, 2:16 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three genes may play a strong role in determining why some young men raised in rough neighborhoods or deprived families become violent criminals, while others do not, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
One gene called MAOA that played an especially strong role has been shown in other studies to affect antisocial behavior -- and it was disturbingly common, the team at the University of North Carolina reported.People with a particular variation of the MAOA gene called 2R were very prone to criminal and delinquent behavior, said sociology professor Guang Guo, who led the study.
"I don't want to say it is a crime gene, but 1 percent of people have it and scored very high in violence and delinquency," Guo said in a telephone interview.
crime
genetics
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