July 24, 2006

storage and use of newborn babies’ blood spots

Speakers:
Prof Carol Dezateux, Head of the Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Child Health
Dr Alistair Kent, Director, Genetics Interest Group
Prof Anne Green, Consultant Paediatric Biochemist, Birmingham Children’s Hospital
Dr Pat Tookey, Senior Lecturer at the CPEB, Institute of Child Health
Dr Hugh Brady, Head of Molecular Haematology and Cancer Biology Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

Blood spots from the heels of newborn babies are an amazing resource for scientists, providing them with DNA to use as a baseline for important medical research on diseases like HIV and Leukaemia; screening for some rare but serious conditions; public health monitoring and helping the police for forensic purposes. The Science Media Centre has invited some of the UK’s leading experts on the results of a major public consultation on the storage and use of bloodspots.