News

Launch of new eBook ‘Reproduction in a Changing World’

17 January 2025

A brand new e-book has launched this week ‘Reproduction in a Changing World’. A collaboration between Cambridge Reproduction steering committee member Amanda Sferruzzi-Perri, with the Society for Reproduction and Fertility, along with other leading researchers and clinical doctors, this e-book creatively illustrates the...

Ashley Moffett awarded CMG: Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 2025 New Year Honours

7 January 2025

Cambridge Reproduction are delighted to extend heartfelt congratulations to Professor Ashley Moffett for her award in the New Year Honours 2025 list for services to Women’s Reproductive Health and to Clinical Research and Practice in Africa. As part of the Overseas and International List, Professor Moffett has been...

Human stem cell-based embryo model – Blastoids. Blue marks all nuclei, the green label marks cells of the inner cell mass, and the pink label is a readout of a ribosomal protein. Credit Irene Zorzan and Teresa Rayon, Babraham Institute.

Cambridge Reproduction leads work on new Code of Practice for research involving stem cell-based embryo models

4 July 2024

Cambridge Reproduction, in partnership with the Progress Educational Trust , has led work to create the first ever UK guidelines for the generation and use of stem cell-based embryo models in research. The SCBEM Code of Practice has been developed by a Working Group of experts from a range of institutions across the UK...

Zoom conference call in the background of the picture

First UK public dialogue on stem cell-based embryo models suggests considerations for research and governance

10 April 2024

A groundbreaking public dialogue on stem cell-based embryo models (SCBEMs) has been published today, comprising the first in-depth exploration of public attitudes towards research involving embryo models in the UK. The dialogue findings will inform development of a new Code of Practice for embryo model research, which will...

‘Mini-placentas’ help scientists study the causes of pre-eclampsia and pregnancy disorders

18 January 2024

Cambridge Reproduction network members have grown ‘mini-placentas’ in the lab and used them to see how the placenta develops and interacts with the inner lining of the womb – findings that could help scientists better understand and, in future, potentially treat pre-eclampsia. The study, published today in Cell Stem Cell...

Cambridge-led study discovers cause of pregnancy sickness – and potential treatment

13 December 2023

A collaborative study led by Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, joined by Cambridge Reproduction members Prof Gordon Smith and Prof Steve Charnock Jones , has shown why many women experience nausea and vomiting during pregnancy – and why some women, including the Duchess of Cambridge, become so sick they need to be admitted...

Risk of premature birth from smoking while pregnant more than double previous estimates

7 November 2023

Cambridge researchers have found that women who smoke during pregnancy are 2.6 times more likely to give birth prematurely compared to non-smokers – more than double the previous estimate. The study, published today in the International Journal of Epidemiology, also found that smoking meant that the baby was four times...

Public dialogue on research involving early human embryos

25 October 2023

The findings of a foundational UK public dialogue on human embryo research, run in collaboration with Cambridge Reproduction, have been published. Part of the Wellcome-funded Human Developmental Biology Initiative (HDBI). The HDBI is an ambitious scientific endeavour to advance our understanding of human development. The...

Real Families: Stories of Change - new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum

6 October 2023

Beyond the nuclear family. An unprecedented Fitzwilliam exhibition explores the family, informed by psychological research. Real Families: Stories of Change considers the idea of family through the eyes of artists. Historic works reveal how family life has been portrayed throughout art history while modern and contemporary...

Brown mouse. Credit: Understanding Animal Research

Unborn babies use ‘greedy’ gene from dads to ‘remote-control’ mums into feeding them extra food

11 July 2023

A study in mice has found that fetuses use a copy of a gene inherited from their dad to force their mum to release as much nutrition as possible during pregnancy. The unborn baby ‘remote controls’ its mother’s metabolism so the two are in a nutritional tug of war. The mother’s body wants the baby to survive but needs to...