the range of inherited diseases that can be identified in embryos and the speed and accuracy at which they are traced. Currently, as few as two per cent of the 15,000 known genetic conditions can be identified.Professor Alan Handyside, who has pioneered

while pregnant, you should know you can screen against genetic disease. Couples have a fundamental right to know their carrier status and to make reproductive decisions on the basis of that status without outside interference.”

, inherited disease, and could be a step towards an era of hybrid children.Although the technique stems from what some consider to be a good cause – that is, trying to combat the spread of genetic diseases - it has started an ethical debate on whether

Scientists have created embryos with ‘two mums’ during research that could help eradicate a host of genetic diseases. The new fertility technique, developed by researchers from Newcastle University, swaps DNA between eggs.Mitochondrial diseases can

people get meningococcal disease and others do not,” said Sue Davie, chief executive of the Meningitis Trust."Further work will be needed to establish just what the genetic differences are in the genes which actually cause this susceptibility to invasive

are confident that we have discovered something new and exciting about childhood asthma. These novel findings do not explain completely how asthma is caused, but they do provide a further part of the gene-environment jigsaw that makes up the disease

A mum has conceived the first British baby guaranteed not to suffer from hereditary breast cancer.The girl was at high risk of contracting the disease as her father carried the harmful BRCA-1 gene and three generations of his family had suffered

Doctors in West Australia have carried out groundbreaking research which resulted in curing mice of Floppy Baby Syndrome.The team of experts hope the discovery will lead to a cure for human babies with the disease which currently effects thousands

diagnosis (PGD), is banned in the UK, except in cases where it could help screen for genetic disease.America relaxed its regulations on sex selection in 2001 and British couples have been inquiring about the Manhatten clinic's "family balancing" services

The tests would identify those with an inherited cholesterol disorder, which increases the risk of heart disease. One in 500 children is affected by the genetic disorder, 'familial hypercholesterolaemia', which means that fat in the body does