Applied Genetics News articles from January 2001

Applied Genetics News archives from January 2001

OUTLOOK: The Year That Was, The Year That Is.
January 1, 2001... The year 2000 will go down in history as the year that the human genome was sequenced. All the hype notwithstanding, this was a significant accomplishment with real world consequences that are already being felt. As headline news, the human...

Genomics.
January 1, 2001... The mouse genome will be the next mammalian genome to be sequenced, and will yield immediate benefits to a relatively new scientific discipline - comparative mammalian genomics. Placing the mouse and human sequences side by side will allow...

Antibodies.
January 1, 2001... Some of the most successful recently approved drugs have been monoclonal antibody based (e.g., Synagis and Herceptin). The coming year will no doubt yield several newly approved antibody drugs. New techniques that combine phage display with...

Anti-Infectives.
January 1, 2001... Among the most important anti-infective drugs in the pipeline is Tenofovir, an anti-HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitor from Gilead. Not only is it active against drug-resistant HIV, but treatment does not appear to generate resistant strains....

Cell Therapy and Cloning.
January 1, 2001... Amazing treatments become possible as we learn how to manipulate stem cells to differentiate into a variety of cell types. There are neural stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, and as of last year a liver stem cell. These are generating hope...

Ag-Biotech.
January 1, 2001... Concerns about food from genetically modified crops are slowly abating, in part because corporations have finally gotten smart - identifying and publicizing the real environmental and health benefits that biotech can deliver. In Europe,...

BASIC SCIENCE: Three Steps to Breast Cancer.
January 1, 2001... In the January 1 issue of Genes & Development, Robert Weinberg and colleagues from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) report that the sequential introduction of three cancer-associated genes into human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs)...

Immune Proteins in Brain Development.
January 1, 2001... Two immune proteins found in the brains of mice help the brain develop and may play key roles in triggering developmental disorders like dyslexia and neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease, according to a Harvard Medical School...

They Keep Going and Going ...
January 1, 2001... Researchers at the University of Connecticut Health Center have found that the life span of fruit flies was extended from an average of 37 days to an average of 70 days when one of two normal genes was modified. Some flies in the study lived...

GENOMICS: Identifying Early Markers of Autism.
January 1, 2001... The University of California (UC) Davis M.I.N.D. (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute is allocating $1 million to develop a new neurodevelopmental genomics laboratory for the study of biomarkers and other early...

Interactions that Regulate Genes.
January 1, 2001... Interactions between the extracellular matrix (ECM) and cell surface receptors, called integrins, can regulate gene expression in a global, genome-wide manner. The research was reported by a team of scientists from Biogen, Inc. (14 Cambridge...

Plate full of Puffer Fish.
January 1, 2001... A Japanese delicacy, Fugu rubripes (the puffer fish), will be the subject of a sequencing project of the Joint Genome Institute (JGI, Walnut Creek, CA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). "This project will represent our single largest...

Gene Defect for Alexander Disease.
January 1, 2001... Scientists led by University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Able Messing have pinpointed the gene responsible for a rare and devastating childhood brain disorder called Alexander disease, solving a 50-year-old mystery regarding its cause....

Imprinted Gene on Chromosome-19.
January 1, 2001... An unusual gene-control mechanism called "imprinting" is at work on human chromosome-19, reports Duke University Medical Center researchers in the January 1 issue of Genomics. For imprinted genes, the gene copy that is turned on depends on...

GENE THERAPY: Gene Therapy for Heart Disease.
January 1, 2001... The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) has received a five-year, $14.3 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for initiatives to treat cardiovascular diseases using gene therapy. The grant establishes the...

OLIGONUCLEOTIDE COMPOUNDS Frameshifting Ribosomes Are Attacked.
January 1, 2001... PTC Therapeutics (100 Corporate Ct., South Plainfield, NJ 07080- 2499; Tel: 908/222-7000, Fax: 908/222-7231; Website: www.ptcbio.com) has been awarded a Phase-I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of...

Neugene Targets Cytochrome-P450.
January 1, 2001... AVI BioPharma, Inc. (One S.W. Columbia St., Suite 1105, Portland, OR 97258; Tel: 503/227-0554, Fax: 503/227-0751; Website: www.avibio.com) has completed preclinical studies utilizing its proprietary Neugene antisense technology targeting the...

RPI Patents Catalytic DNA.
January 1, 2001... Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (RPI, 2950 Wilderness Pl., Boulder, CO 80301; Tel 303/449-6500, Fax: 303/449-6995) has been issued U.S. Patent 6,159,714, with claims covering catalytic DNA (DNAzyme) molecules. The patent claims broadly cover...

BIOMANUFACTURING: New Year Brings New Plants, Deals.
January 1, 2001... New manufacturing facilities and contract deals are highlights at the dawning of 2001: *Cell Genesys, Inc. (342 Lakeside Dr., Foster City, CA 94404; Tel: 650/425-4400, Fax: 650/358-0803) has begun construction of a multiproduct GMP (Good...

ANTIBODY: Phage Display Creates Human Antibodies.
January 1, 2001... Abgenix, Inc. (7601 Dumbarton Circle, Fremont, CA 94555; Tel: 510/608-6500, Fax: 510/608-6511) and Dyax Corp. (1 Kendall Sq., Cambridge, MA 02139; Tel: 617/225-2500, Fax: 617/225-2501; Website: www.dyax.com) have entered into a collaboration to...

Epitope Mapping of Allergenic Peptides.
January 1, 2001... Genencor Intl.'s (4 Cambridge Pl., 1870 Winton Rd., Rochester, NY 14618; Tel: 716/256-5200, Fax: 716/244-9988; Website: www.genencor.com) epitope mapping technology is described in the most recent issue of the Journal of Immunotherapy. The...

Expressed Sequence Tags Validate Drugs.
January 1, 2001... MorphoSys AG (Lena-Christ-Strasse, D-82152 Martinsied, Munich, Germany; Tel: + 49 (0)89 99927 0, Fax: +49 (0)89 89927 222) will collaborate with Biogen, Inc. (14 Cambridge Ctr., Cambridge, MA 02142; Tel: 617/679-2000, Fax: 617/679-2617) in...

CELL THERAPY: Blood Stem Cells Come in Flavors.
January 1, 2001... A team of researchers (the Sick Kids team) at the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC, Toronto, Canada), led by geneticist John Dick, has discovered that distinct types of stem cells exist within the blood, a finding with important clinical...

HORMONES: IGF Binding Protein-5 Is a Growth Factor.
January 1, 2001... A team led by Subburan Mohan (Musculoskeletal Disease Center, Jerry L. Pettis Veterans Administration Medical Center, 11201 Benton St., Loma Linda, CA 92357) at Loma Linda University have found that a binding protein for insulin-like growth...

Nerve Growth Factor Makes Mice Smarter.
January 1, 2001... Genetically introduced nerve growth factor (NGF) helped rewire the brain and increase the ability of mice to run a maze faster than their unmodified counterparts. This is the conclusion conducted by Andrew Brooks and Howard Federoff of the...

ANTIINFECTIVES Trojan Horse Tactic Patented.
January 1, 2001... NewBiotics, Inc. (11760-R Sorrento Valley Rd., San Diego, CA. 92121; Fax: 619/259-8645; Website: www.newbiotics.com) has announced the issuance of U.S. Patent 6,159,706, covering its "Trojan Horse" technology for killing antibiotic-resistant...

Attachment Inhibition Is Antibacterial.
January 1, 2001... SIGA Technologies, Inc. (420 Lexington Ave., Suite 620, New York, NY 10170; Tel: 212/672-9100) will acquire rights to an antibiotic technology developed at the University of California in Los Angeles by microbiologist Olaf Schneewind. The...

AG-BIOTECH: Chickens to Be Cloned.
January 1, 2001... AviGenics, Inc. (425 River Rd., Athens, GA 30602-2771; Tel: 706/227-1170, Fax: 706/227-2180; Email: information@avigenics.com, Website: www.avigenics.com) and Origen Therapeutics, Inc., (651 Gateway Blvd. #980, South San Francisco, CA...

Report on Bt Crops Published.
January 1, 2001... An evaluation of plants protected against insect pests through biotechnology has appeared in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. The scientific report reviews scientific research on crops protected...

Do Pesticides Cause Parkinson's?
January 1, 2001... A combination of two widely used agricultural pesticides - but neither one alone - creates the exact same pattern of brain damage in mice that doctors see in patients with Parkinson's disease, according to a team of researchers led by Deborah...

INDUSTRY NEWS: $10,000 Offered to Break Geron Patent.
January 1, 2001... BountyQuest.com (Brodeur Worldwide, Washington, DC; Tel: 202/715- 0510; Email: ckkuenzig@brodeur.com, Website: www.bountyquest.com) is an Internet site where companies post rewards for information, particularly documented information, that can...

Guidelines for Issuing Patents on Genes.
January 1, 2001... New guidelines for patents on genes were released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 5, 2001 (Website: www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a010105c.html). The new guidelines are not much different than interim rules adopted a year...

CALENDAR.
January 1, 2001... January 29-30, 2001, Cytokines as Drug Targets and Therapeutics, London, U.K. Contact: SMi, Ltd.; Tel: (020) 7827 6000, Fax: (020) 7827 6001. February 3-7, 2001, Cell Death and Aging, Miami Beach, FL. Contact: University of Miami School of...