News

New study explores the links between prenatal sex steroid hormones, maternal health and autism

16 September 2021

New research from the Autism Research Centre and the Rosie Hospital, both at the University of Cambridge, suggests that maternal steroid factors during pregnancy are associated with autistic traits in mothers and their infants. Previous studies have shown a relationship between prenatal sex steroid hormones and the...

March for Choice, Dublin, 2012. Photo by William Murphy.

How the moral and emotional framing of the Irish abortion debate has shaped political and public opinion

15 September 2021

New research on Ireland's recent referendum on abortion rights examines how the framing processes used by the pro-choice movement shaped public attitudes and political treatment of abortion within the new legislative regime. Aideen O'Shaughnessy , a PhD student in the Reproductive Sociology Research Group (ReproSoc) ...

Cycles and circulation

23 August 2021

Reproduction is all about cycles: menstrual cycles, treatment cycles, population cycles and more. A team of historians has analysed how metaphors of cycles and circulation have been deployed, and how they have linked reproduction to other major topics. Cycles are among the oldest ways of grasping human existence, and of...

Researchers identify new genes linked to longer reproductive lifespan in women

4 August 2021

The age at which women go through menopause is critical for fertility and impacts healthy ageing in women, but reproductive ageing has been difficult for scientists to study and insights into the underlying biology are limited. Now, scientists have identified nearly 300 gene variations that influence reproductive lifespan...

Organoids derived from menstrual flow can avoid the need for invasive biopsies

29 June 2021

Researchers in Cambridge have published a new method of deriving endometrial organoids that can save women from undergoing an invasive procedure. Using menstrual flow, Tereza Cindrova-Davies and colleagues have been able to generate organoids that are identical to those generated from an endometrial biopsy. Organoids are...

A human embryo in the lab at 9 days post-fertilisation

Study identifies trigger for ‘head-to-tail’ axis development in human embryo

17 June 2021

Scientists have identified key molecular events in the developing human embryo between days 7 and 14 - one of the most mysterious, yet critical, stages of our development. The second week of gestation represents a critical stage of embryo development, or embryogenesis. Failure of development during this time is one of the...

Simple blood test can predict which women will have serious pregnancy complications

9 June 2021

Women who will develop potentially life-threatening disorders during pregnancy can be identified early when hormone levels in the placenta are tested, a new study has shown. Nearly all of the organ systems of the mother’s body need to alter their function during pregnancy so that the baby can grow. If the mother’s body...

Cambridge scientists awarded £1.3m to unravel how cardiovascular disease is programmed by obese pregnancy

26 April 2021

Congratulations to SRI members Professor Dino Giussani (Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience) and Professor Sue Ozanne (Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science) who have, with Professor Mike Murphy (MRC Mitochrondrial Biology Unit), been awarded a £1.3m grant from the Medical Research Council (MRC) to...

Simple treatment during pregnancy can protect baby from memory problems in later life, study in rats suggests

21 April 2021

A new study in laboratory rats has discovered a direct link between low oxygen in the womb and impaired memory function in the adult offspring. It also finds that anti-oxidant supplements during pregnancy may protect against this. Low oxygen in the womb - known as chronic fetal hypoxia - is one of the most common...

Cover image from Christina Weis, 'Surrogacy in Russia. An ethnography of reproductive labour, stratification and migration'

Comparative ethnographies of surrogacy: perceptions of the clinical labour of surrogacy in Russia, the USA and India

20 April 2021

A new article published this month in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters presents the results of a multinational ethnographic study to show how perceptions of ‘clinical labour’ such as surrogacy are shaped by local moral frameworks. Marcin Smietana (ReproSoc, Cambridge University) and colleagues Sharmila Rudrappa (...