Applied Genetics News articles from July 2000

Applied Genetics News archives from July 2000

SEQUENCING: Genome's Sequenced: Now What?
July 1, 2000... Craig Venter, of Celera Genomics (45 West Gude Dr., Rockville, MD 20850; Tel: 240/453-3000, Fax: 240/453-3900, Website: celera.com), and Francis Collins, of the human genome project, announced last month that the monumental task of sequencing...

BASIC SCIENCE: 38,000 Products from One Gene.
July 1, 2000... Deciphering the newly sequenced human genome may be considerably more difficult than first thought, given evidence involving a gene from the relatively simple organism, Drosophila. Howard Hughes investigator Lawrence Zipursky from UCLA, and...

Mitochondrial Defects Linked to Alzheimer's.
July 1, 2000... Medical researchers at the University of Virginia health system led by neurologist James P. Bennett Jr. have succeeded in directly linking abnormalities in mitochondrial genes to the brain cell damage and death that are hallmarks of...

New Theory of HIV Action Proposed.
July 1, 2000... In connection with the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, genome scientist Howard Urnovitz, chief science officer of Calypte Biomedical Corp. (1440 Fourth St., Berkeley, CA 94710; Tel: 510/749-5100, Fax: 510/526-5381), has...

GENOMICS: Gene Found for Lymphedema.
July 1, 2000... Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have discovered that mutations in the gene for vascular endothelial growth factor receptor three (VEGFR3) are responsible for the symptoms of hereditary lymphedema, a condition in which limbs...

GENE THERAPY: Filamentous Phage Vectors Patented.
July 1, 2000... Selective Genetics, Inc. (11035 Roselle St., San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 858/625-0100, Fax: 858-625-0050, Website: selectivegenetics.com) has been issued U.S. Patent 6,054,312 entitled "Receptor-mediated gene delivery using bacteriophage...

GDNF Gene for Parkinson's Disease.
July 1, 2000... Cell Genesys (342 Lakeside Dr., Foster City, CA 94404; Tel: 650/425-4400, Fax: 650/358-0803) has reported that a single gene therapy treatment in a rat model of Parkinson's disease resulted in behavioral recovery and nerve cell regeneration as...

BIOMANUFACTURING: Catalytica Forms Industrial Unit.
July 1, 2000... Catalytica, Inc. (430 Ferguson Dr., Mountain View, CA 94043; Tel: 650/960-3000, Fax: 650/960-0127, Website: catalytica- inc.com) has created Catalytica NovoTec, Inc., a newly incorporated subsidiary that previously operated as a development...

Hyperspeed Evolution of Enzymes.
July 1, 2000... Maxygen (515 Galveston Dr., Redwood City, CA; Tel: 650/298- 5300, Fax: 650/364-2715, Website: maxygen.com) and DSM N.V (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) have announced the achievement of a research milestone under their 1999 agreement to develop a...

Purifying Antibodies Derived from Plants.
July 1, 2000... ProMetic BioSciences, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of ProMetic Life Sciences, Inc. (4000 Blackburn Lane, Suite 115, Burtonsville, MD; Tel: 301/421-0030, Fax: 301/472-4225, Website: affinity-chrom.com) has signed a collaborative agreement...

CELL THERAPY: Unlimited Production Beta Cells Envisioned.
July 1, 2000... Scientists have developed the first human beta cell line that responds to glucose stimulation by secreting insulin, both in the test tube and when transplanted into lab animals. The cell line was established using techniques that could provide...

Apligraf Approved for Diabetic Foot Ulcers.
July 1, 2000... The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Apligraf developed by Organogenesis (150 Dan Rd., Canton, MA 02021; Tel: 617/575-0775, Fax: 617/575-0440, Web: organogenesis.com) as Graftskin for use with conventional diabetic foot ulcer...

Human Stem Cell Collaboration.
July 1, 2000... Fresh from its triumph in sequencing the human genome, Celera Genomics (45 West Gude Dr., Rockville, MD 20850; Tel: 240/453 3000, Fax: 240/453 3900, Website: celera.com) will use its expertise to enhance the utility of another important prize,...

Liver Cells Come from the Marrow.
July 1, 2000... In one of the more surprising recent developments in developmental biology, a team of researchers from Yale and New York University has discovered that mature human liver cells are derived from bone marrow stem cells. The study, published in...

T-Cells Help Prevent Rejection.
July 1, 2000... A novel subset of immune system cells has been identified that can help prevent the rejection of donor tissue in such a highly specific manner that other parts of the immune system are not affected. A team of scientists from the Toronto...

ENZYMES: PTEN Phosphatase Diabetes Drug Target.
July 1, 2000... In a presentation at the 60th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in San Antonio, scientists from Isis Pharmaceuticals' (2292 Faraday Ave., Carlsbad, CA 92008; Tel: 760/931-9200, Fax: 760/931-9639) GeneTrove...

ANTIBODIES: BlyS to Enter Clinical Trials.
July 1, 2000... Only a year after its discovery was published in Science, BlyS, which stimulates antibody production, is ready to enter clinical trials. Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (HGSI, 9410 Key West Ave., Rockville, MD 20850; Tel: 301/309-8504, Fax:...

Anti-CD18 Fails as Heart Treatment.
July 1, 2000... Genentech, Inc. (1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080; Tel: 650/225-1000, Fax: 650/225-8326, Website: gene.com) released preliminary results of its 415-patient phase II clinical trial of the company's recombinant humanized anti- CD18...

Anti-Factor D for Bypass Treatment.
July 1, 2000... Tanox, Inc. 10301 Stella Link, Suite 110, Houston TX 77025- 5497; Tel: 713/664-2288, Fax: 713/664-8914, Website: tanox.com) has been awarded a small business innovative research grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to study...

HORMONES AND CYTOKINES Activated Protein C Shows Prowess.
July 1, 2000... Eli Lilly & Co. (Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, IN 46285; Tel: 317/276-2000, Fax: 317/277-3354, Website: lilly.com) has stopped enrollment in the recombinant human activated protein C worldwide evaluation in severe sepsis (PROWESS)...

IL-6 Polymorphism Osteoporosis Linked.
July 1, 2000... Gemini Genomics Plc (162 Science Park Milton Rd., Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB4 0GH, U.K.; Tel: 1223 435-300, Fax: 1223 435-301, Website: gemini-genomics.com) has been issued U.S. Patent 8,857,464 relating to a polymorphism correlated with the...

AG-BIO: The Sequencing of Ustilago Maydis.
July 1, 2000... Forget about the human genome, that's old stuff. Exelixis (200 Littlefield Ave., South San Francisco, CA 94080; Tel: 650/825-2200, Fax: 650/825-2205, Website: exelixis) has gotten down to the real nitty gritty with its newly minted draft of...

Turning on Disease Resistance.
July 1, 2000... Researchers have created a chimeric receptor in rice cells that allows an Arabidopsis hormone to switch on disease- resistance machinery. Joanne Chory and her colleagues at the Salk Institute (San Diego, CA) and UC Davis created the chimeric...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Newsflash: HIV Causes AIDS.
July 1, 2000... In a document called the Durban Declaration, 5,000 prominent AIDS experts, physicians, and scientists around the world, including 11 Nobel Prize winners, affirm that HIV causes AIDS. Release of the declaration was timed to coincide with the...

M.I.N.D. Institute Awarded $34 Million.
July 1, 2000... The California state budget, which has been signed by the governor, includes $34 million to support medical research at the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (M.I.N.D.) Institute. The money will be used to fund research on...

TheScientificWorld Emerges on the Web.
July 1, 2000... The Scientific World, Inc. (Website: www.thescientificworld.com) is a start-up company that will use the internet to integrate scientific research information into a coherent and navigable form designed to enhance and accelerate scientific and...

Unigene Forges Chinese Connection.
July 1, 2000... Unigene Laboratories, Inc. (110 Little Falls Rd., Fairfield, NJ 07004-2913; Tel: 973/882-0860, Fax: 973/227-6088, Website: unigene.com) a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the research, production, and delivery of valuable therapeutic...

CALENDAR.
July 1, 2000... July 17-21, New Gene Discovery, Innsbruck, Austria. Exon- Intron, Inc, PO Box 475, Stewardstown, PA 17363-0475; Tel: 717/993-5511, Fax: 717/771-4062. July 27-28, Third International Symposium on Fungal Genomics, Athens, GA. IBC...