News

New ai@cam-funded project on using AI in fertility treatment and diagnosis

1 April 2025

Across the world, fertility rates are falling, while families are choosing to have children later on in life. To help them conceive, many couples turn to assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF; however, success rates remain low and the process can be expensive. Mo Vali and Dr Staci Weiss hope that AI can change...

University Library exhibition shows medieval remedies for reproductive conditions

29 March 2025

A major new exhibition open now at Cambridge University Library shines a light on health and disease in the medieval world – including how our ancestors sought to manage infertility, childbirth and menstruation. Featuring dozens of unique, centuries-old medical manuscripts, Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World...

Genetic study reveals hidden chapter in human evolution

18 March 2025

Modern humans descended from not one, but at least two ancestral populations that drifted apart and later reconnected, long before modern humans spread across the globe. A study published in Nature Genetics, co-authored Cambridge Reproduction member Aylwyn Scally, has discovered that modern humans descended from not one...

Scientists identify genes that make humans and Labradors more likely to become obese

6 March 2025

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered genes linked to obesity in both Labradors and humans. They say the effects can be over-ridden with a strict diet and exercise regime. Researchers studying British Labrador retrievers have identified multiple genes associated with canine obesity and shown that these...

Christina Rozeik (Cambridge Reproduction) and Sandy Starr (Progress Educational Trust)

Cambridge Reproduction recognised in The Cambridge Awards for Research Impact and Engagement

7 February 2025

This week, Christina Rozeik, Programme Manager for Cambridge Reproduction accepted the award for the Cambridge Reproduction project Including public voices in policy through a public dialogue on stem cell-based embryo models at The Cambridge Awards 2025. Stem cell-based embryo models offer exciting new opportunities to...

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...