The Special Non-Invasive Advances in Fetal and Neonatal Evaluation Network (SAFE) is a Network of Excellence established under the European Commission Sixth Framework Programme which aims to implement routine non-invasive prenatal diagnosis and cost effective neonatal screening through the creation of long-term partnerships.

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Newsflash Supported by the British Council, an obstetrician from Havana, Dr Davide Casagrandi Casanova, has visited the SAFE Warwick Lab for three weeks to learn from their experience in NIPD technology. Dr Casagrandi, who has an MSc in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine, aims to set up a new clinical service in Cuba. In the first instance this will concern NIPD of fetal genetic sex with special reference to conditions such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Congenital Adrenogenital Hyperplasia. Created: 22/06/07, By: Olivia A Willcocks read more ... Seventh QF-PCR Workshop A three day QF-PCR course will take place from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th November 2007 at General Lab in Quiron Hospital Madrid, Spain. Lectures and practical demonstrations are planned to cover all aspects of the QF-PCR procedures with particular emphasis to the analysis troubleshooting. Relevant literature will also be provided to the participants. The Course will be limited to 30 scientists already conversant with conventional PCR assays. Created: 13/06/07, By: Olivia A Willcocks read more ... Preterm Labour Workshop A special issue of BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth with the title "Proceedings of the First and Second European Workshops on Preterm Labour of the Special Non-Invasive Advances in Fetal and Neonatal Evaluation (SAFE) Network of Excellence" has been published. This special issue comprises sixteen fully peer reviewed papers presented at the 1st and 2nd European Workshops on Preterm Labour, held on 22 June 2005 and 21–22 September 2006 in Tarragona. The special issue is openly accessible. The url is http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/7?issue=S1 Created: 11/06/07, By: Olivia A Willcocks Patient Leaflets Following discussion between the two laboratories offering NIPD for fetal sexing to high risk families in England, a patient information leaflet has been written. We hope that this will be useful for both health professionals and families. SAFE also hopes to translate this into a number of other languages with help of SAFE partners worldwide. Created: 04/06/07, By: Olivia A Willcocks read more ... Standardisation Workshop presentations now online On March 7th-8th Tobias Legler hosted the SAFE workshop on Standardisation of NIPD for RhD and possibilities for CE-marking in Göttingen, Germany. The requirements for the large-scale implementation of the determination the foetal D-status from maternal plasma for decision making on Rh-prophylaxis in D-negative pregnant women were discussed. The presentations are now available in the Meetings area of this website. Created: 28/03/07, By: Olivia A Willcocks read more ... Revised edition of SAFE Newsletter The revised edition of the SAFE Project newsletter is now available on the website. Created: 16/03/07, By: Olivia A Willcocks read more ... Recent developments in the non-invasive detection of Down's syndrome Two recent high-profile scientific publications in Nature Medicine (Lo et al. 2007) and The Lancet (Dhallan et al. 2007), both accompanied by numerous reports in the lay media, have fostered hopes that it may very soon be possible to detect trisomy 21 (three copies of chromosome 21 leading to Down syndrome) non-invasively in the near future. Of interest is that both these approaches have utilized cell-free fetal nucleic acids and the analysis of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs). It is, however, noteworthy that they have chosen very different strategies. Created: 01/03/07, By: Sinuhe Hahn read more ... Visit to Dennis Lo’s Laboratory in Hong Kong I was fortunate to be able to visit Dennis Lo’s laboratory at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong in January of 2007. Dennis Lo’s laboratory discovered the presence cell-free fetal DNA in the plasma of pregnant women in 1997 using a non-invasive test involving real time PCR analysis and a Y chromosome specific sequence, SRY, to detect male fetuses. His laboratory is at the forefront of research into cell-free DNA analysis and is therefore a very exciting laboratory to be able to visit. Created: 26/01/07, By: Cathy Meaney, Clinical Scientist, Regional Molecular Genetics, GOSH read more ... £100,000 award goes to tiny charity with huge aims Congratulations to SAFE partner Unique for receiving the most public votes to win the top prize of £100,000 in the DailyMail/RBS Children’s Charity Awards! Beverly Searle, Chief Executive Officer of Unique, said, "This is a wonderful achievement for a charity as small as ours, not least because most of the other finalists were major, well known charities.  It has also been an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of rare chromosome disorders and genetics among the general public." Click here to download Unique’s press release Created: 25/01/07, By: Barry Yau read more ... SoE activities at international conferences The SAFE spreading of excellence team (SoE) based at University College London (UCL) attended the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG) world congress in London during September. The team promoted SAFE and recruited other units to join the collaborative study based at UCL. An abstract was also submitted by the group which detailed a reduction in amniocentesis and CVS when non-invasive fetal sexing was utilised in pregnancies at an increased risk of X-linked genetic disease and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH). Click here to see the abstract, which won the poster prize in its section. The SoE team also recently attended the annual conference of the British Society for Human Genetics in York, which was attended by 800 delegates. The SAFE information leaflet was put in every delegate pack, along side a letter inviting regional genetics units to participate in the collaborative study to bank samples based at UCL. There were reports in several national and one local newspaper and BBC on-line Lyn Chitty has issued two reports from that conferences: International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology Report British Society for Human Genetics Report Created: 28/09/06, By: Barry Yau - Project Manager Fetal sexing: Global Perspectives on Practices, Ethics and Policy edited by Lyn Chitty and Theresa Marteau has just been published. Wiley put out a news alert in association with its publication. This special issue arose from a SAFE workshop organised by Theresa last year and highlights some of the ethical issues raised by non-invasive prenatal diagnosis. Click here to read the content list Created: 01/08/06, By: Lyn Chitty read more ... Consolidated EC Review report for year 2 The EC has released to SAFE its Consolidated review report for year 2. All SAFE partners have received by email the report. The reports are also available for downloading in the consortium area. In the consortium area menu click “EC Reports”, then scroll down to “EC Consolidated Review Report” to download the report. Created: 01/08/06, By: Barry Yau - Project Manager Invitation to become SAFE Associate Invitations are called for from individuals or institutions to become a SAFE Associate if they are interested in the goals or technology areas of the SAFE Network. Click here to read the Terms of Association. Created: 06/06/06, By: Barry Yau - Project Manager read more ...