One-step screening for both genetic and chromosomal abnormalities has come a stage closer as scientists announced that an embryo test they have been developing has successfully screened cells taken from spare embryos that were known to have cystic fibrosis.

Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have shown for the first time that a tendency to develop some blood disorders may be inherited.

Healthy men who report lower levels of the nutrient folate in their diets have higher rates of chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

A new Mayo Clinic study due to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in San Diego this week shows that a chromosome test called “FISH” is better than conventional methods in identifying chromosomal genetic abnormalities associated with plasma cell malignancies.

Two years and more than 2,000 samples after researchers at Baylor College of Medicine started to use a new gene-chip technology called chromosomal microarray analysis to look for potential genetic abnormalities in children, they find that it is remarkably sensitive in detecting abnormalities in individual chromosomes, according to a report that appears online today in the journal Public Library of Science ONE.