Applied Genetics News articles from June 2001

Applied Genetics News archives from June 2001

BASIC SCIENCE: Life Is Ready to Move to Mars.
June 1, 2001... Scientists are creating glowing plants and breeding microorganisms to grow on Mars. University of Florida professor Rob Ferl is engineering mustard plants with reporter genes derived from glowing jellyfish as health indicators for unmanned Mars...

GENOMICS: Ion Channel Defect Produces Paralysis.
June 1, 2001... International researchers led by Louis Ptacek have linked Andersen's syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that involves muscle paralysis, heart arrhythmias, and abnormal growth, to mutations in a gene that encodes a pore-like protein that...

Gene Transfer in Streptomyces.
June 1, 2001... Researchers at the University of Georgia (UG) have, for the first time, successfully transferred DNA into a genetically uncharacterized species of the bacterium Streptomyces. Results of the study were published in the May 22 issue of the...

Is Lateral Gene Transfer Real?
June 1, 2001... New findings 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) do not support a recent analysis of the rough draft of the human genome that...

SNPs Travel in Big Blocks.
June 1, 2001... Scientists at the Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research (9 Cambridge Ctr., Cambridge, MA 02142-1479; Tel: 617/258-5000) have found that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in northern Europeans travel together in large blocks. It...

BRCA1 May Repair DNA.
June 1, 2001... Tanya Pull at the University of Texas at Austin, and colleagues from Baylor College of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health have created a recombinant version of human BRCA1 protein and have discovered that the protein binds directly...

Gene Responsible for High Cholesterol.
June 1, 2001... Myriad Genetics, Inc. (320 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108; Tel: 801/584-3600, Fax: 801/584-3640; Website: www.myriad.com) has discovered a human gene responsible for high total cholesterol and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in...

GENE THERAPY: Artificial Chromosomes for Controlled Expression.
June 1, 2001... Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy, Ed Perkins, director of engineering at Chromos Molecular Systems (8081 Lougheed Highway, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1W9; Tel: 604/415-7100, Fax: 604/415-7151,...

Gene for Lysosomal Storage Disease.
June 1, 2001... At American Society of Gene Therapy's annual meeting, Seng Cheng, vice president for genetic diseases science at Genzyme (One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139-1563; Tel: 617/252-7500, Fax: 617/374-7368, Website: www.genzyme.com), reviewed...

Tissue-Specific Gene Delivery.
June 1, 2001... Targeted Genetics Corp. (1100 Olive Way, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98101; Tel: 206/623-7612, Fax: 206/223-0288) has released data from its joint venture with Elan Corporation, plc, Emerald Gene Systems, describing enhancements that enable cellular...

RB Variant Arrests Cancer Growth.
June 1, 2001... Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (400 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite 505, South San Francisco, CA 94080; Tel: 415/244-4990, Fax: 415/244- 4956) reported positive results from two separate preclinical studies demonstrating the ability of Titan's RB94...

ANTI-SENSE: Licensing Agreement for Antisense.
June 1, 2001... Hybridon (345 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA 02139; Tel: 617/679-5500, Fax: 617/679-5592; Website: www.hybridon.com) and Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (2292 Faraday Ave., Carlsbad, CA 92008; Tel: 760/931-9200, Fax: 760/931-9639) have announced patent...

ANTIBODIES: A Rationally Designed Antibody Drug.
June 1, 2001... Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (25 Science Park, New Haven, CT 06511; Tel: 203/776-1790, Fax: 203/772-3655) released results of a preclinical study of a new class of therapeutic antibodies that accelerated the return to normal platelet levels in...

Boron As a Kryptonite Bullet.
June 1, 2001... Immunomedics, Inc. (300 American Rd., Morris Plains, NJ 07950; Tel: 973/605-8200, Fax: 973/605-8282; Website: www.immunomedics.com) has been issued U.S. Patent 6,228,362 for a means of killing cancer cells via localized irradiation. This...

Carcinoma Antigen Collaboration Begun.
June 1, 2001... AltaRex Corp. (610 Lincoln St., Waltham, MA 02451; Tel: 781/672- 0138, Fax: 781/672-0142, Website: www.altarex.com) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a joint collaboration with Epigen, Inc. (Rochester, NY) for the purposes...

CELL THERAPY: Lymph Node Lymphocytes as a Therapeutic Product.
June 1, 2001... Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (24 Frank Lloyd Wright Dr., P.O. Box 376, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106; Tel: 313/930-5555, Fax: 313/665- 0485) and Neoprobe Corp. (425 Metro Place North, Suite 400, Dublin, Ohio 43017-1367; Tel: 614/793-7500, Fax:...

Imaging Transplanted Cells in the Brain.
June 1, 2001... BresaGen, Ltd. (P.O. Box 259, Rundle Mall, Adelaide, South Australia 5000; Tel: +61 8 8234 2660, Fax: + 61 8 8234 6268, Website: www.bresagen.com.au) has signed a sponsored research agreement with Stanford University that will focus on the...

Skeletal Muscle Cells Aid Heart.
June 1, 2001... An international team has recently completed a nonsurgical effort to augment heart function by injecting cultured autologous myoblasts (primarily immature muscle cells cultured from a biopsy of the patient's thigh muscle) into a damaged area of...

ENZYMES: Patent Issued for "Chemical Liposuction".
June 1, 2001... BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. (35 Wilbur St., Lynbrook, NY 11563; Tel: 516/593-7000, Fax: 515/593-7039; Website: www.biospecifics.com) has been advised that the European Patent Office intends to grant a patent for Lipolysin, an injectable...

Hurlers Syndrome Treatment Patented.
June 1, 2001... The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 6,238,662 entitled, "Synthetic Alpha-L-Iduronidase and Genetic Sequences Encoding Same." The patent claims are related to methods of treating Hurler syndrome, also know as...

BIOMANUFACTURING: Growing Enzymes in Corn Plants.
June 1, 2001... ProdiGene, Inc. (101 Gateway Blvd., Suite 100, College Station, TX 77845; Tel: 409/690-8537, Fax: 409/690-952; Website: www.prodigene.com) has entered into a research agreement with Eli Lilly & Co. (Lilly Corporate Ctr., Indianapolis, IN 46285;...

Shortfall in Protein Manufacturing?
June 1, 2001... Biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies may fall victim to their own success and face critical shortages in protein manufacturing capacity at a time when industry players are looking to capitalize on a very robust late-stage...

AG-BIO: Vaccination Against Methane Release.
June 1, 2001... Methane emission from livestock is endangering the planet, according to Australia's CSIRO Livestock Industries (Private Bag No. 5, Wembley, Western Australia 6913; Tel: 08 933 6684, Fax: 08 9387 8991). Methane is a very potent greenhouse...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Biotech Invades Chemical Industry.
June 1, 2001... Biotechnology products will account for about 30% of the $1.5- trillion chemicals market by 2010, according to a new report from McKinsey & Co., Inc. Included among the major chemical companies adopting biotechnology methods are Dow Chemical,...

Biota Acquires NuMax Pharma.
June 1, 2001... Biota Holdings, Ltd. (Level 4, 616 Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC 3004, Australia, Tel: +61 9529 2311, Fax: + 61 3 9529 2261; Website: www.biota.com.au) has purchased NuMAX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held, U.S.-based biotechnology start-up...

CALENDAR.
June 1, 2001... June 30-July 5, 2001. 11th International Congress on Genes, Gene Families, and Isozymes, Stockholm, Sweden; Tel: +46 459-6600, Fax: +46 551-9125; Email: gene@congrex.se, Website: www.gene2001.org July 23-24, 2001. 4th International...