Applied Genetics News articles from June 2000

Applied Genetics News archives from June 2000

BASIC SCIENCE: Switch Controls Immune Cell Fate.
June 1, 2000... In an article in the May 26, 2000, issue of Science, Howard Hughes investigator Harinder Singh and colleague Rodney DeKoter from the University of Chicago report that the concentration of the transcription factor PU.1 in progenitor immune...

Calpain Implicated in Alzheimer's.
June 1, 2000... Researchers at Harvard University, led by Howard Hughes investigator Li-Huei Tsai, have identified an enzyme that responds to toxic insults to brain cells and triggers neurodegeneration akin to that seen in people with Alzheimer's disease. In...

GENOMICS: ApoE Expression Linked to Strokes.
June 1, 2000... Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine have discovered a direct link between the expression of the protein apoE and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), which causes up to one-third of bleeding strokes in the elderly. Mice...

Gene Blocks Breast Cancer Metastasis.
June 1, 2000... Researchers at Penn State's College of Medicine, led by Danny R. Welch, associate professor of pathology, have discovered a gene that blocks metastasis in breast cancer. The gene is called breast cancer metastasis suppressor-1 (BRMS1) and is...

Gene Linked to Endotoxin Response.
June 1, 2000... University of Iowa (UI) researchers have found the first genetic evidence that mutations to a certain gene are associated with differences in the human response to inhaled endotoxin, a contaminant commonly found in agricultural dust, air...

Infected Frogs Reveal TB Tricks.
June 1, 2000... Frogs get tuberculosis too. By studying the amphibian version of this disease, Stanford researchers have pinpointed two genes that may enable the TB bacterium to survive for decades within the human body. The findings may help clear up the...

Frozen Mitochondria to Be Sequenced.
June 1, 2000... The Zoological Society of San Diego and Molecular Dynamics (928 E. Arques Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086-4520; Tel: 408/773-1222, Fax: 408/773-1493; Website: www.mdyn.com), a subsidiary of the global biotech company Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, are...

Caspase 8 Silenced in Neuroblastoma.
June 1, 2000... Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (332 N. Lauderdale, Memphis, TN 38105-2729; Tel: 901/495-3300), led by Vincent Kidd of the Tumor Cell Biology Department, discovered that the gene for the protein caspase 8 is frequently...

GENE THERAPY: Del-1 Induces Angiogenesis.
June 1, 2000... Delivery of the gene for Del-1, an integrin receptor ligand, elicited development of new blood vessels in preclinical animal studies in rabbits and mice, according to Valentis, Inc. (863A Mitten Rd., Burlingame, CA 94010; Tel: 650/697-1900,...

Better Alternative to Nakedness.
June 1, 2000... Vical, Inc. (9373 Towne Centre Dr., Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 619/453-9900, Fax: 619/453-5885) unveiled Vaxfectin, a cationic lipid formulation designed to enhance the efficiency of DNA vaccination, at the annual meeting of the...

Heat-Activated Gene Therapy.
June 1, 2000... Celsion Corp. (10220-I Old Columbia Rd., Columbia, MD 21046; Tel: 410/290-5390, Tel: 800/262-0394, Fax: 410/290-5394; Website: www.celsion.com) has signed an exclusive worldwide agreement with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for the...

HIV Antisense Gene Therapy.
June 1, 2000... Enzo Biochem, Inc. (60 Executive Blvd., Farmingdale, NY 11735; Tel: 516/755- 5500, Fax: 516/755-5569) has released preliminary results of a Phase I clinical trial of its anti-HIV-1 antisense gene therapy product, HGTV-43, which inhibits...

Enbrel Gene Used against Rheumatoid Arthritis.
June 1, 2000... Targeted Genetics Corp. (1100 Olive Way, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98101; Tel: 206/623-7612, Fax: 206/223-0288) presented data from its preclinical gene therapy program for rheumatoid arthritis at the American Society of Gene Therapy Third Annual...

ANTISENSE AND RIBOZYMES: Orally Administered Antisense Drugs.
June 1, 2000... OraSense, Ltd., a joint venture of Elan Corp., plc (Lincoln House, Lincoln Pl., Dublin 2, Ireland; Tel: 212/755-3218, Fax: 212/755-1043) and Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (2292 Faraday Ave., Carlsbad, CA 92008; Tel: 760/931-9200, Fax:...

New Generation of Ribozymes Unleashed.
June 1, 2000... Scientists from Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (RPI, 2950 Wilderness Pl., Boulder, CO 80301; Tel 303/449-6500, Fax: 303/449-6995) reported data at the annual RNA Society Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, describing the discovery of a new ribozyme...

Blended Immune System Established in Humans.
June 1, 2000... BioTransplant, Inc. (Bldg. 75, Third Ave., Charlestown Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA 02120; Tel: 617/241-5200, Fax: 617/241-8780) and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) released preliminary results of a trial using BioTransplant's...

CELL THERAPY: Neural Stem Cells Make More Than Nerves.
June 1, 2000... Reprogrammed adult neural stem cells can potentially generate a cornucopia of cell types - giving rise to cells in heart, liver, muscle, intestine, and other tissues, according to a paper in the June 2 issue of Science. When adult neural stem...

Cord Blood Stem Cells Expand in Culture.
June 1, 2000... Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (24 Frank Lloyd Wright Dr., P.O. Box 376, Ann Arbor, MI 48106; Tel: 313/930-5555, Fax: 313/665-0485) released results from a large- scale project to grow human stem cells outside of the body from cord blood. The...

Growing a New Heart.
June 1, 2000... Bioengineering researchers at the University of Washington will lead a consortium seeking to grow functional human heart tissue, an undertaking that could lead to tissue-engineered replacement hearts and set in place the technology to grow...

Growing Liver Cells In Vitro.
June 1, 2000... ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (26 Landsdowne St., Cambridge, MA 02139; Tel: 617/494-0400, Fax: 617/494-8144) claims that liver cells (hepatocytes) can be grown in culture under the control of the ARIAD Regulated Gene Expression Technology...

Primate Gets Mismatched Pancreatic Islets.
June 1, 2000... BioTransplant, Inc. (Bldg. 75, Third Ave., Charlestown Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA 02120; Tel: 617/241-5200, Fax: 617/241-8780) and its collaborators from the Transplantation Unit and the Transplantation Biology Research Center (TRBC) of the...

VACCINES AND ANTI-INFECTIVES Toxin Binder Blocks Clostridium Disease.
June 1, 2000... Scientists at GelTex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (153 2nd Ave., Waltham, MA 02451; Tel: 781/290-5888, Fax: 781/290-5890; Website: www.geltex.com) reported preclinical data on a nonantibiotic Clostridium difficile toxin binder, GT160- 246, at...

Peptides Protect Against Pathogens.
June 1, 2000... Micrologix Biotech, Inc. (Vancouver, British Columbia) and the Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute (REI, of Torrance, CA), an affiliate of the UCLA School of Medicine, have signed a worldwide exclusive licensing and co- development...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Neuro-Oncology Center Created.
June 1, 2000... The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (44 Binney St., Boston, MA; Tel: 617/632-5357) is launching a new, comprehensive neuro-oncology center to focus on the genetics of brain development - with the goal of creating new clinical therapies for brain...

Apoptogen, Exogen Complete Merger.
June 1, 2000... Apoptogen and Exogen (10 Constitution Ave., P.O. Box 6860, Piscataway, NJ 08855; Tel: 732/981-0990, Fax: 732/981-0003) have merged to form Aegera Therapeutics, Inc., whose is on the treatment of neurological diseases and cancer. The merged...

AG-BIOTECH: Chickens Have Stem Cells, Too.
June 1, 2000... Origen Therapeutics, Inc. (651 Gateway Blvd. #980, South San Francisco, CA 94080-7025; Tel: 650/827-0200) and Embrex, Inc. (1035 Swabia Ct., Durham, NC 27703; Tel: 919/941-5185, Fax: 919/941-5186; Website: www.embrex.com) have initiated a...

Growing the Virtual Arabidopsis.
June 1, 2000... A group of plant biologists is calling for a major scientific effort, called the 2010 Project, to understand the biological machinery of a plant in enough detail to construct a virtual plant that can be used to examine every aspect of a...

CALENDAR.
June 1, 2000... June 28-29, 2000, Future Trend in Therapeutic Antibodies, London, U.K. Contact: Smi Pharmaceutical Conferences; Tel: 020 7252 2222, Fax: 020 7252 2272. July 17-21, 2000, New Gene Discovery, Innsbruck, Austria. Contact: Exon-Intron, Inc,...

ANTIBODIES: Alliance Combines Antibody Technologies.
June 1, 2000... Biosite Diagnostics, Inc. (11030 Roselle St., San Diego, CA 92121; Tel: 619/455- 4808, Fax: 619/455-4815) and Medarex, Inc. (1545 Rte. 22 E., Annandale, NJ 08801-0953; Tel: 908/713-6001, Fax: 908/713-6002; Website: www.medarex.com) have...

HORMONES AND CYTOKINES: Relaxin Is Potential Hypertension Drug.
June 1, 2000... Connetics Corp. (3400 W. Bayshore Rd., Palo Alto, CA 94303; Tel: 650/843-2800, Fax: 850/843-2899; Website: www.connetics.com) and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (UMDNJ-RWJMS) presented...