Applied Genetics News articles from December 1999

Applied Genetics News archives from December 1999

BASIC SCIENCE: HIV, Poxvirus Use Same Receptors.(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... A research team led from UC San Francisco and the University of Ontario reports in the Dec. 3rd issue of Science that myxoma poxvirus invades cells using the same chemokine receptors, CCR5 and CXCR4, which HIV uses. This finding may shed light...

Tropomyosin Is Binding Site of Endostatin.(EntreMed)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... According to studies undertaken by EntreMed (9640 Medical Center Dr., Suite 200, Rockville, MD 20850; Tel: 301/217-9858, Fax: 301/217-9594) and presented at the Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics conference in Washington, DC,...

Mucin Expressed in Activated T-cells.(Biomira Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... At the XXVII Meeting of the International Society for Oncodevelopmental Biology and Medicine, held last week in Kyoto, Japan, Babita Agrawal, manager and head of immunology research at Biomira, Inc. (2011 94th St. MW, Edmonton, Alberta T6N1H1,...

GENOMICS: Appetite Regulating Gene Discovered.(Autogen Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Researchers from the Australian company Autogen, Ltd. have discovered an important previously unknown pathway and protein that regulates appetite and weight. The beacon gene, discovered in the Israeli sand rat model of obesity, appears to act...

Mutations Stop Sperm Production.(Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Howard Hughes investigator David Page, of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (9 Cambridge Ctr., Cambridge, MA 02142-1479; Tel: 617/258-5000) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has...

HIV-like Virus Encoded by the Human Genome.(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Buried within the genetic blueprint of every human is a segment of DNA that resembles a gene sequence from the human immunodeficiency virus. Humans have been carrying this genetic baggage around for more than 30 million years, says Howard...

Radiation Resistant Bacteria Sequenced.(Deinococcus radiodurans)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Researchers from the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR, 9712 Medical Center Dr., Rockville, MD 20850; Tel: 301/838-0200, Fax: 301/838-0208, Website: www..tigr.org) completely sequenced the genome of a strain of pink bacteria, Deinococcus...

SNPs Database Released.(single nucleotide polymorphism database released by SNP Consortium Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... The SNP Consortium, Ltd., (8770 West Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60631; Tel: 773/867-2990, Fax: 773/867-2991) a collaborative effort to create a database of genetic markers called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), has...

Possible Autism Gene on Chromosome 13.(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and collaborating institutions are reporting evidence for a possible gene on chromosome 13 that may contribute to autism. The group's report will be published December 15...

GENE THERAPY: Patent Issued for Retrotransposon Vectors.(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Nature Technology Corp. (NTC, 4701 Innovation Dr., Lincoln NE, 68521; Tel: 402/472-6530, Website: www..natx.com, Email: natx@natx.com) has announced the issuance of U.S. Patent 5,879,933, for "Mammalian Retrotransposons," a vector system for...

Tumor Suppressor Blocks Restenosis.(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Researchers at Jefferson Medical College, led by assistant professor Pier Paolo Claudio, have found that the gene for tumor suppressor Rb2/p130 may be an effective adjunct to angioplasty in treating blocked coronary arteries. Their findings...

Lentivirus Vector for Cystic Fibrosis Gene.(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... University of Iowa Health Care researchers have used a lentivirus, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), in studies to determine its usefulness in treating cystic fibrosis. "The UI study addressed two fundamental problems currently preventing...

Liposomal Method for Delivering Genes.(Liposome Company Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... The Liposome Co., Inc. (One Research Way, Princeton Forrestal Center, Princeton, NJ 08540; Tel: 609/452-7060, Fax: 609/452-1890) presented data at the 41st annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology demonstrating successful delivery...

ANTISENSE: Isis Advances on Multiple Fronts.(ISIS Pharmaceuticals Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... A number of developments have occurred recently with regard to antisense compounds developed by Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIP). The company announced that it will initiate phase III trials of ISIS 3521. On the down side, the company will...

Blocking Telomerase Remortalizes Cancer Cells.(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... B.-S. Herbert, A. E. Pitts, and colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75235) have shown that inhibitors of telomerase can remortalize transformed human breast epithelial cells and...

BIOMANUFACTURING : Gelatin Is Now a Crop.(FibroGen Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... At the annual meeting of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, researchers from FibroGen, Inc. (225 Gateway Blvd., South San Francisco, CA 94080; Tel: 650/866-7200, Fax: 650/866-7201, Website: www..fibrogen.com) reported the...

Polyester Derived from Glucose.(Genencor International and DuPont)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Genencor International (4 Cambridge Place, 1870 Winton Rd., Rochester, NY 14618; Tel: 716/256-5200, Fax: 716/244-9988, Website: www. genencor.com) and DuPont (1007 Market St., Wilmington, DE 19898; Tel: 302/774-1000, Fax: 302/773-2631) have...

ANTIBODIES: Abgenix Announces New Deals, Results.(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Abgenix, Inc. (7601 Dumbarton Circle, Fremont, CA 94555; Tel: 510/608-6500, Fax: 510/608-6511) is on a roll. The company has recently announced two new deals with large biotech firms. Also, the company has revealed positive results for its...

CELL THERAPY: How to Grow a New Heart Valve.(Tepha Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... First make a heart valve-shaped scaffold out of biodegradable polymers. Then seed it with endothelial cells scavenged from an artery. Place the construct in an incubator and supply it liberally with culture medium. After about two weeks, the...

License to Neural Stem Cells Acquired.(Layton BioScience Inc. and Children's Medical Center in Boston)(Brief Article)
December 19, 1999... Layton BioScience (105 Reservoir Rd, Atherton, CA 94027-6421; Tel: 650/854-6614) has entered into an exclusive, worldwide agreement with Children's Medical Center in Boston to research and develop applications for neural stem cell technology...

Embryonic Stem Cells Repair Spinal Cord.
December 19, 1999... Scientists led by John W. McDonald, a neurologist from the Washington University School of Medicine, have developed a treatment that improves the locomotion of rats when given more than a week after spinal cord injury. They turned embryonic...

VACCINES AND ANTI-INFECTIVES : Pokeweed Protein Fights HIV.
December 19, 1999... Pokeweed antiviral protein (PAP), a natural product isolated from the pokeweed plant, shows potential as a new anti-AIDS drug when targeted to cells infected with the AIDS virus. The results of a recent study by F.M. Uckun et al. from the...

Epitope Mutation Allows HIV Escape.
December 19, 1999... Epimmune, Inc. (5820 Nancy Ridge Dr., San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 858/860-2500, Fax: 858/860-2600) and its collaborators have published of data in the November issue of Nature Medicine [5, 1270-1276], which supports the company's approach to...

TOXINS: Injected Toxin Ends Pain.
December 19, 1999... A one-time injection of a targeted toxin could result in permanent relief for those suffering unrelenting pain from cancer and other illnesses. A new technology called molecular neurosurgery developed by Advanced Targeting Systems (San Diego,...

INDUSTRY NEWS: INSMED to Acquire Celtrix.
December 19, 1999... Privately held INSMED Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (800 E. Leigh St., Richmond, VA 23219; Website: www.insmed.com) and Celtrix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (2033 Gateway Place, Suite 600, San Jose, CA 95110; Tel: 408/988-2500, Fax: 408/450-4700) announced...

Baxter to Acquire North American Vaccine.
December 19, 1999... Baxter International, Inc. (One Baxter Pkwy., Deerfield, IL 60015; Tel: 847/948-2000, Fax: 847/948-3948) announced today that it is acquiring North American Vaccine, Inc. (10150 Old Columbia Rd., Columbia, MD 21046; Tel: 410/309-7121, Website:...

AG-BIO: Unnatural Selection?
December 19, 1999... A single genetically modified fish could turn Darwinian evolution upside down and wipe out local populations of the species if released into the wild, warns William Muir and Richard Howard of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. They...

Genes May Control Shelf Life of Crops.
December 19, 1999... Senesco Technologies, Inc. (Cambridge, MA 02138) has identified and characterized a new gene, deoxyhypusine synthase (DHS), which the company believes regulates the commencement of plant senescence (aging). Senesco expects that it will be able...

CALENDAR.
December 19, 1999... January 17-18, 2000 Therapeutic Control of Angiogenesis, London, U.K. Contact: IBC Global Conferences, Gilmoora House, 57-61 Mortimer St., London W1N 8J, U.K.; Tel: 0171 636-5496, Fax: 0171 636-6858. January 18-20, 2000, Second Annual ECPI...