A BREAKTHROUGH fertility technique could allow women to have babies well into their fifties and sixties.
The treatment — which uses injections of stem cells to restore egg production — could herald the end of the "biological clock".
Oldest mum in Britain ... Elizabeth Adeney
Geoff Robinson
It "kick-starts" the ovaries, potentially allowing those struggling to conceive to have a child of their own without using IVF or adopting.
And it could particularly benefit women under 40 who suffer Premature Ovarian Failure or "early menopause".
Britain's oldest mum is Elizabeth Adeney, pictured above cradling the boy she controversially gave birth to in May last year using IVF aged 66.
The new treatment will be unveiled at the World Congress of Fertility and Sterility conference in Munich, Germany.
It was developed by Egyptian fertility pioneer Professor Osama Azmy.
The technique has proved safe in animal trials and on lab rats and is set to be tested on women for the first time.
Scientists have already developed treatments such as ovarian tissue transplants to kick-start egg production in women who have been through the menopause. But these can be costly and painful.
Stem cells are the body's building blocks and have a unique ability to cling on to and repair damaged tissue.
They have already been used in small trials to treat heart and bone fracture patients.
But this is the first time they have been presented as a potential fertility treatment. Prof Azmy used stem cells from rats, testing them on mature female rodents.
He said: "This work shows stem cells can restore ovarian function. The treated ovaries returned to producing eggs."
But the treatment is controversial as it uses stem cells taken from embryos.
In humans, these would be taken from aborted foetuses, or potentially in the future, embryos cultivated in a lab for this sole purpose.
Campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics has branded this type of research "unethical".
A BRAIN chemical that regulates the body clock could hold the key to improving fertility treatment, scientists said at the Munich conference.
Melatonin doubles the success rate of IVF therapy in women with poor-quality eggs — one of the main problems for those who can't conceive.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/health/health/3138399/Doctors-can-stop-womens-biological-clock.html