MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'Biotechnology' source. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:39:20 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3283119&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D15543683%26fsrc%3Drss A machine that prints organs is coming to marketTHE great hope of transplant surgeons is that they will, one day, be able to order replacement body parts on demand. At the moment, a patient may wait months, sometimes years, for an organ from a suitable donor. During that time his condition may worsen. He may even die. The ability to make organs as they are needed would not only relieve suffering but also save lives. And that possibility may be closer with the arrival of the first commercial 3D bio-printer for manufacturing human tissue and organs. The new machine, which costs around $200,000, has been developed by Organovo, a company in San Diego that specialises in regenerative medicine, and Invetech, an engineering and automation firm in Melbourne, Australia. One of Organovo’s foun... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3283119 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:42:57 +0100 3283119 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3283120&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D15495936%26fsrc%3Drss Are the bugs in wild animals resistant to antibiotics?BACTERIA that are resistant to antibiotics are becoming disturbingly common in people. More worrying still is that the genes which confer this resistance are also showing up in bacteria found in other animals. When resistant bacteria hop between species, that can increase the rate of evolution and, over time (through the sharing of independently evolved traits) turn a mildly resistant bug that is merely a nuisance into a serious threat.This has left researchers wondering how resistant bacteria get into animals in the first place. One possibility is that genes for antibiotic-resistance circulate naturally in wild populations. Many antibiotics are, after all, derived from the natural defence mechanisms of other micro-organisms, so it is n... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3283120 Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:38:54 +0100 3283120 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3219987&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D15391210%26fsrc%3Drss A new breed of oyster may encourage aquacultureMUCH of the bounty of the ocean is, these days, far less plentiful than it used to be. Scarcity has made oysters expensive, turning this unattractive mollusc into a delicacy for the rich. That could change if researchers find a way to breed a faster growing and larger oyster.As many gardeners and farmers know, crossbreeding two wimpy specimens sometimes produces strong offspring—an effect known as hybrid vigour. Hybrid vigour is common in plants and is found in some animals—though, some speculate, it may be lacking in European royalty. ... (Source: Biotechnology) Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3219987 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:40:26 +0100 3219987 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3197266&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D15328524%26fsrc%3Drss Network-engineering problems can be solved by surprisingly simple creaturesFROM adhesives that mimic the feet of geckos to swimsuits modelled on shark skin, biologically inspired design has taken off in recent times. Copying nature’s ideas allows people to harness the power of evolution to come up with clever products. Now a group of researchers has taken this idea a step further by using an entire living organism—a slime mould—to solve a complex problem. In this case, the challenge was to design an efficient rail network for the city of Tokyo and its outlying towns.Slime moulds are unusual critters—neither animal, nor plant nor fungus. If they resemble anything, it is a colonial amoeba. Physarum polycephalum, the species in question, consists of a membrane-bound ba... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3197266 Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:57:59 +0100 3197266 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3175332&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D15268869%26fsrc%3Drss In the field of stem cells, China is showing that it can do world-class science. It is a shame, then, that so many fraudsters operate and that officialdom turns a blind eyeIN THE West, and particularly in America, the phrase “stem cell” has acquired a bad reputation. Stem cells are associated, in the minds of many, with the destruction of human embryos, the cloning of human beings and the Frankenstein-like creation of spare body parts. Add in the strange case of Hwang Woo-suk, a South Korean researcher who announced, to great acclaim, that he had succeeded in cloning human embryos and was then exposed as a fraud, and you have a field in which many researchers understandably fear to tread.Not Chinese researchers, though. A Confucian rejection of the idea that embryos are in any ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3175332 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:45:44 +0100 3175332 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3175331&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D15268859%26fsrc%3Drss More evidence that tumours, like healthy organs, grow from stem cellsTHE notion that tumours are chaotic masses of anarchic cells has been falling by the wayside recently. Many researchers now think, by contrast, that cancers actually resemble normal, well-regulated organs in several important ways. One of these is that they are believed to have a small population of stem cells which keep them going when other cells die or are killed off. The existence of such cancer stem cells is still a matter of debate. But this week the discussion may have taken an important turn. Brid Ryan, Sharon Pine and Curtis Harris, of America’s National Cancer Institute, reported that some lung-cancer cells do, indeed, seem to behave like stem cells during the process of cell division.Unlike normal cells, ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3175331 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:45:44 +0100 3175331 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3133255&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D15172631%26fsrc%3Drss Genetically modified prairie voles may illuminate the human conditionLOVE, of course, is what makes the world go round, but what makes love go round? To aesthetes, such a question is imponderable. To scientists, it is not only ponderable but increasingly open to scrutiny—the more so now that Zoe Donaldson and her colleagues at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, have succeeded in creating a new kind of transgenic prairie vole. For, unlikely as it might seem, these tiny rodents could be the key to understanding bonding, trust and even decision-making in humans. For those unfamiliar with the delightful prairie vole, it is a small rodent found in the grasslands of central North America. What makes it unusual among mammals is that it is both sociable and monogamous. Prairie voles groom... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3133255 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:39:16 +0100 3133255 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3100047&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D15125189%26fsrc%3Drss A microbicide which, it was believed, might protect from HIV, does notIN THE frantic search for ways to stop the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a gel that women apply to their vaginas before having sex, in order to destroy or disable the virus, sounds one of the most desperate. Yet it is not a foolish idea. Unlike the most reliable form of protection, a condom, it is the woman, not the man, who makes the ultimate choice about whether to use the gel. (So-called femidoms, inserted by the woman, have been a dismal failure.) Moreover, such a microbicide, as it is known technically, might simultaneously protect against the virus that causes AIDS, but permit insemination, and thus eliminate objections from both putative parents and some religious authorities to the use of cont... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3100047 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:02:56 +0100 3100047 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2966711&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D14793356%26fsrc%3Drss The DNA of the domesticated horse shows evolution at workTHE genomes of many mammals have now been completed, including the cow, the dog, the chimpanzee and, of course, the human. This week it was the turn of the horse to have its DNA sequence decoded. With it emerged further evidence of how horses have been close human companions and, like other mammals that share an evolutionary history with man, how they could help the understanding of hereditary diseases. But there was also a surprise: horses have a newly forming part in their genetic make-up which shows the evolutionary process in action in a way that has not been seen before.A team of researchers led by Claire Wade, then at the Broad Institute, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, collaborated on the project, which is reported in the latest ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2966711 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:00:12 +0100 2966711 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2966712&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D14793403%26fsrc%3Drss Carbon nanotubes find an unusual use as fertilisersMANURE, compost and ash were used as fertilisers for centuries before the 1800s, but people did not understand how they worked until the science of chemistry was developed in the 19th century and it became clear that they supply plants with nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Today, something similar may be happening with a different sort of fertiliser altogether. For reasons that are not yet entirely clear, it looks as though exposing seeds to carbon nanotubes before they germinate makes the seedlings that subsequently sprout grow faster and larger.A carbon nanotube is, as its name suggests, a tiny cylinder of carbon atoms. Such tubes have been proposed for all sorts of fancy uses, particularly in electronics, but they and other nanopart... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2966712 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:01:12 +0100 2966712 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2898312&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D14637307%26fsrc%3Drss The human genome gets more and more complicatedIT WAS, James Watson claimed, something even a monkey could do. Sequencing the human genome, that is. In truth, Dr Watson, co-discoverer of the double-helical structure of DNA back in the 1950s, had a point. Though a technical tour-de-force, the Human Genome Project was actually the sum of millions of small, repetitive actions by cleverly programmed robots. When it was complete, so the story went, humanity’s genes—the DNA code for all human proteins—would be laid bare and all would be light.It didn’t quite work out like that. Knowing the protein-coding genes has been useful. It has provided a lexicon of proteins, including many previously unknown ones. What is needed, though, is a proper dictionary—an explanation ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2898312 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:48:53 +0100 2898312 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2875291&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D14585719%26fsrc%3Drss Prizes for optical fibres, charge-coupled devices, ribosomes and telomeresHOW do you look through a window that is 100km thick? That, in essence, was the question facing Charles Kao in 1966. For working out the answer, Dr Kao has been awarded part of this year’s Nobel prize for physics. Besides being thick, the window was narrow: it was an optical fibre. Dr Kao’s prize is a belated recognition of his contribution to the telecommunications revolution of the past few decades. But better late than never. The rest of the physics prize goes almost as belatedly to Willard Boyle and George Smith who, in 1969, ushered the charge-coupled device (CCD) into being, paving the way for the digital camera. The chemistry prize went to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath for ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2875291 Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:47:30 +0100 2875291 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2774366&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Ftq%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D14299634%26fsrc%3Drss Biotechnology: The falling cost of equipment capable of manipulating DNA is opening up a new field of “biohacking” to enthusiastsMANY of the world’s great innovators started out as hackers—people who like to tinker with technology—and some of the largest technology companies started in garages. Thomas Edison built General Electric on the foundation of an improved way to transmit messages down telegraph wires, which he cooked up himself. Hewlett-Packard was founded in a garage in California (now a national landmark), as was Google, many years later. And, in addition to computer hardware and software, garage hackers and home-build enthusiasts are now merrily cooking up electric cars, drone aircraft and rockets. But what about biology? Might biohacking—tink... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2774366 Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:46:16 +0100 2774366 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2761393&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.comdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D14299634%26fsrc%3Drss Biotechnology: The falling cost of equipment capable of manipulating DNA is opening up a new field of “biohacking” to enthusiastsMANY of the world’s great innovators started out as hackers—people who like to tinker with technology—and some of the largest technology companies started in garages. Thomas Edison built General Electric on the foundation of an improved way to transmit messages down telegraph wires, which he cooked up himself. Hewlett-Packard was founded in a garage in California (now a national landmark), as was Google, many years later. And, in addition to computer hardware and software, garage hackers and home-build enthusiasts are now merrily cooking up electric cars, drone aircraft and rockets. But what about biology? Might biohacking—tink... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2761393 Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:46:16 +0100 2761393 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2691078&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Ftm%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D14207319%26fsrc%3Drss An attempt to mimic part of a cell on a chip“WHAT is a Golgi apparatus used for?” sounds like a question from the more recherche type of television quiz show. The answer is “putting the finishing touches to proteins”. Many proteins will not work properly unless they are coated with the right mixture of sugar molecules. The Golgi apparatus (named after Camillo Golgi, who discovered it in 1898, and illustrated in the accompanying picture) is the part of a cell that sweetens them up.This need for adjunct sugar molecules is one reason why making protein-based drugs is not as simple as it looks. Biotechnology is good at taking genes from one organism (a human being, for example) and sticking them into another (yeast, say) in order to churn out large amounts of a desirabl... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2691078 Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:24:46 +0100 2691078 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2610462&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D14029874%26fsrc%3Drss Algae inch ahead in the race to produce the next generation of biofuelsWHEN BP branded itself as “Beyond Petroleum”, and the fashionable colour among oil companies was green, Exxon Mobil stood aloof from the rush to embrace alternative sources of energy. Indeed Rex Tillerson, the firm’s chief executive, once humorously referred to biofuels as “moonshine”. Now, when some of the enthusiasts are having second thoughts and scaling back on alternatives, Exxon seems to be going the opposite way yet again. On July 14th the oil giant said it would put $300m into what is probably the biggest effort so far to create a new generation of biofuels—with a further $300m to come if things go well.The beneficiary of this largesse is Synthetic Genomics, a firm based in Sa... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2610462 Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:18:46 +0100 2610462 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2774367&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Ftq%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13725783%26fsrc%3Drss Industrial biotech: A “third wave” of biotechnology is arriving. Will it be able to avoid a poor reception from the general public this time around?FOR a long time the public has perceived biotechnology to mean dangerous meddling with the genes in food crops. But biotechnology is of course about much more than transgenic food: it also encompasses the use of microbes to make pharmaceuticals, for example. The many benefits of the first wave of biotech products, in medicine, have unfortunately been overshadowed by the supposed risks of biotech’s second wave, in agriculture. Might its third wave—so-called industrial biotech, also known as “white biotech” or “green chemistry”—resolve biotech’s image problem?As with other forms of biote... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2774367 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:53:53 +0100 2774367 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2504584&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.comdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13725783%26fsrc%3Drss Industrial biotech: A “third wave” of biotechnology is arriving. Will it be able to avoid a poor reception from the general public this time around?FOR a long time the public has perceived biotechnology to mean dangerous meddling with the genes in food crops. But biotechnology is of course about much more than transgenic food: it also encompasses the use of microbes to make pharmaceuticals, for example. The many benefits of the first wave of biotech products, in medicine, have unfortunately been overshadowed by the supposed risks of biotech’s second wave, in agriculture. Might its third wave—so-called industrial biotech, also known as “white biotech” or “green chemistry”—resolve biotech’s image problem?As with other forms of biote... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2504584 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:53:53 +0100 2504584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2456178&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Ftq%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13725783%26fsrc%3Drss Industrial biotech: A “third wave” of biotechnology is arriving. Will it be able to avoid a poor reception from the general public this time around?FOR a long time the public has perceived biotechnology to mean dangerous meddling with the genes in food crops. But biotechnology is of course about much more than transgenic food: it also encompasses the use of microbes to make pharmaceuticals, for example. The many benefits of the first wave of biotech products, in medicine, have unfortunately been overshadowed by the supposed risks of biotech’s second wave, in agriculture. Might its third wave—so-called industrial biotech, also known as “white biotech” or “green chemistry”—resolve biotech’s image problem?As with other forms of biote... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2456178 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:53:53 +0100 2456178 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2504585&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsciencetechnology%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13570058%26fsrc%3Drss How to preserve concrete with bacteriaCONCRETE is one of the most commonly used building materials. It is cheap, strong and easy to work with. But, as a short walk through any city centre will prove, it cracks easily. The cracking of concrete pavements is merely a nuisance, but cracks in roads, bridges and buildings are a hazard. A way of making concrete that healed such cracks spontaneously would thus be very welcome. And a team led by Henk Jonkers at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands may have come up with one.The way to stop concrete cracking is to bung up small cracks before they enlarge. That process of enlargement is caused by water getting into a crack, then freezing in cold weather and thus expanding. This freeze-thaw cycle, a common form of erosion of natural ro... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2504585 Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:37:50 +0100 2504585 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2380163&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13570058%26fsrc%3Drss How to preserve concrete with bacteriaCONCRETE is one of the most commonly used building materials. It is cheap, strong and easy to work with. But, as a short walk through any city centre will prove, it cracks easily. The cracking of concrete pavements is merely a nuisance, but cracks in roads, bridges and buildings are a hazard. A way of making concrete that healed such cracks spontaneously would thus be very welcome. And a team led by Henk Jonkers at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands may have come up with one.The way to stop concrete cracking is to bung up small cracks before they enlarge. That process of enlargement is caused by water getting into a crack, then freezing in cold weather and thus expanding. This freeze-thaw cycle, a common form of erosion of natural ro... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2380163 Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:37:50 +0100 2380163 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2340583&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fworld%2Fna%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13496436%26fsrc%3Drss The state helps engineer a biotech boomDURING a laboratory session at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, a dozen students gathered around a chromatography column. They were sending clarified lysate through an anion exchange, and some compared notes on the peculiar chemical smell of the classroom. “It’s like bad chicken noodle soup,” said one, wrinkling her nose. Others explained how they had ended up in the protective goggles and booties. Wrennie Edwards said that she had started her career in textiles, but now she was “transitioning” to a livelier field. Megan Crum explained that, growing up in Greensboro, she always wanted to be a vet. But once she got to university she realised that everyone wanted to be one. There were, she thought, more opportuni... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2340583 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:57:43 +0100 2340583 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2340584&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fsurveys%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13437974%26fsrc%3Drss The promise of cheap genome sequencing“TWENTY years ago doctors had tight control over all medical information. We want that power to shift to individuals,” says Anne Wojcicki, a co-founder of 23andMe, a Californian genomics firm that counts Google as one of its investors. Her firm takes in saliva samples by mail, analyses a tiny bit of the genetic material they contain and posts information about the provider’s health and ancestry gleaned from them on a secure website. She wants to extend the idea of patient empowerment to the age of genomics (the study of all genes in the genome and the interactions among them). Her customers are already forming online chat groups and blogs to share details of specific genetic mutations and exchange family and genomic histories. ... (So... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2340584 Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:57:42 +0100 2340584 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2258681&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fworld%2Fna%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13279035%26fsrc%3Drss A science-friendly president overstates his caseDURING his campaign, Barack Obama promised to end two wars. The one in Iraq smoulders on. But “The Republican War on Science”, to borrow the title of an influential book, is now over. On March 9th, as he lifted some restrictions on federal funding for stem-cell research, Mr Obama spoke of “restoring scientific integrity to government”. From now on, he said, scientists will be “free from manipulation or coercion,” and the government will “[listen] to what they tell us, even when it’s inconvenient.” Unlike a certain ex-president, Mr Obama will ensure “that scientific data [are] never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda.”Democrats have long argued that Republicans a... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2258681 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:48:12 +0100 2258681 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2249352&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Ftq%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13174518%26fsrc%3Drss Tissue engineering: Attempts to grow artificial bone marrow in the laboratory have failed—but now a new approach is showing promiseGROWING human cells in a laboratory is easy. Making those cells arrange themselves into something that resembles human flesh is, alas, rather more difficult. So-called tissue engineers have mastered the arts of making artificial skin and bladders, and they recently managed to cook up a windpipe for a patient whose existing one was blocked. But more complicated organs elude them. Nor has anyone managed to grow bone marrow.At first sight, that is surprising. The soft and squishy marrow inside bones does not look like a highly structured tissue, but apparently it is. This does not matter for transplants: if marrow cells are moved from one bone to another the... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2249352 Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:50:10 +0100 2249352 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2144692&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D13014104%26fsrc%3Drss American attitudes to stem-cell therapies are changing fastFOR the past eight years, America’s government has declined to fund new research into one of the world’s most promising medical technologies: the use of human embryonic stem cells to repair or replace damaged tissue in the diseased and injured. Embryonic stem cells are special for two reasons, one scientific and one ethical. The scientific reason is that they are able to turn into any of the body’s myriad cell types, which is why they might be used in this way. The ethical reason is that, at the moment, harvesting them usually involves killing human embryos. The embryos in question have no future anyway (they are usually “spares” from in vitro fertilisation procedures). But it was this destruction of p... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2144692 Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:23:02 +0100 2144692 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1975404&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D12630217%26fsrc%3Drss Stem-cell medicine takes a step forwardIN THE hierarchy of transplant surgery, replacing a bronchus (the passage from the main windpipe, the trachea, into a lung) does not sound difficult compared with, say, plumbing in a new heart. In fact, until a few months ago, it had never been attempted. The reason was not that the surgery itself would be hard, but that the tissue in question, which is the first line of defence against the bacteria and viruses that come with every lungful of air, has a remarkably active immune response. So active, indeed, that if you transferred part of an airway from one person to another, the resulting immunological conflict would probably kill the recipient. Since a weak bronchus, though debilitating, is seldom life-threatening, transplant surgeons have left well-... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1975404 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:16:19 +0100 1975404 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1901777&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fbusiness%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D12481012%26fsrc%3Drss Iceland’s promising drugs firms are in troubleIT MAY seem surprising, but tiny Iceland has produced two of the world’s most innovative small drugs companies. By combining advanced gene-sequencing technologies with privileged access to the genetic data of Icelanders, DeCode Genetics pioneered the field of personal genomics. And Actavis, its compatriot, has grown from obscurity a few years ago through clever acquisitions and global investments into the world’s fifth-largest generic drugs maker. In normal times, these firms would be the toast of the town in Reykjavik. Iceland is an ideal place to study the link between genetic variations and diseases, as its population is ethnically homogenous and immigration has been limited. Alas, these are hardly normal times for the coun... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1901777 Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:43:08 +0100 1901777 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1883440&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D12415210%26fsrc%3Drss Nanopores may lead the way to a new generation of sequencingTHE desk in Gordon Sanghera’s office at Oxford Nanopore proudly displays a piece of knobbly plastic. It has a hole running through it and looks rather like a cruller doughnut, though with grey icing. In fact, it is a model of a protein molecule called alpha-hemolysin. Dr Sanghera, the firm’s boss, believes this molecule will revolutionise the sequencing of DNA. In nature, alpha-hemolysin is used by Staphylococcus aureus, a disease-causing bacterium, to punch holes in cells’ outer membranes. The cell contents, particularly its ions (electrically charged atoms) then leak through the hole and it dies. Pushing a DNA molecule through the hole changes the speed at which ions pass. That will, in turn, be registered as a... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883440 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:34:18 +0100 1883440 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1786078&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D12202589%26fsrc%3Drss Cancer may be caused by stem cells gone bad. If that proves to be correct, it should revolutionise treatmentMUCH of medical research is a hard slog for small reward. But, just occasionally, a finding revolutionises the field and cracks open a whole range of diseases. The discovery in the 19th century that many illnesses are caused by bacteria was one such. The unravelling of Mendelian genetics was another. It now seems likely that medical science is on the brink of a finding of equal significance. The underlying biology of that scourge of modern humanity, cancer, looks as though it is about to yield its main secret. If it does, it is possible that the headline-writer’s cliche, “a cure for cancer”, will come true over the years, just as the antibiotics that followed from t... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1786078 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:04:00 +0100 1786078 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1786077&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fopinion%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D12208016%26fsrc%3Drss A theory linking the scourge to stem cells may offer new ways of treating this most terrifying of diseasesEVERY age is afraid of plagues. For the most part, such plagues have been infections. The rich world, though, has brought infectious disease under control and, AIDS aside, the memory dims with every generation. Instead, the fear of disease has transferred itself to cancer. How to prevent it, and how to treat it if prevention has failed, fills the health pages of the newspapers. How this or that celebrity won or lost his or her battle with it seems to fill much of the rest.The military metaphor is not confined to newspapers. It is 37 years since Richard Nixon, then America’s president, declared war on the disease. During that time, the prognosis for cancer patients has got a lot b... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1786077 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:04:00 +0100 1786077 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1750323&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fbusiness%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D12009882%26fsrc%3Drss Drug giants’ recent attempts to buy big biotech firms have provoked a backlashDALLIANCES between conventional pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology firms are nothing new. Big Pharma, eager to refill its emptying drug pipelines, has in recent years looked hopefully to biotech’s upstarts. The drugs giants have pursued all sorts of tie-ups, from alliances to licensing deals to outright purchases of a few smallish companies. But mindful of the sharp cultural differences between the two sorts of firms, they have generally avoided big acquisitions.Until now, that is. In recent weeks Roche, a Swiss pharmaceuticals giant, has made a surprise $44 billion bid for the 44% of Genentech, the world’s biggest biotech firm by stockmarket value, that it does not already own; and Bris... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1750323 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 +0100 1750323 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1739341&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fbusiness%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D12009882%26fsrc%3Drss Drug giants’ recent attempts to buy big biotech firms have provoked a backlashDALLIANCES between conventional pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology firms are nothing new. Big Pharma, eager to refill its emptying drug pipelines, has in recent years looked hopefully to biotech’s upstarts. The drugs giants have pursued all sorts of tie-ups, from alliances to licensing deals to outright purchases of a few smallish companies. But mindful of the sharp cultural differences between the two sorts of firms, they have generally avoided big acquisitions.Until now, that is. In recent weeks Roche, a Swiss pharmaceuticals giant, has made a surprise $44 billion bid for the 44% of Genentech, the world’s biggest biotech firm by stockmarket value, that it does not already own; and Bris... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739341 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 +0100 1739341 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1714042&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11839246%26fsrc%3Drss On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, we examine the prospect of athletes using gene therapy to enhance their performance—and of catching them if they tryFOR as long as people have vied for sporting glory, they have also sought shortcuts to the champion’s rostrum. Often, those shortcuts have relied on the assistance of doctors. After all, most doping involves little more than applying existing therapies to healthy bodies. These days, however, the competition is so intense that existing therapies are not enough. Now, athletes in search of the physiological enhancement they need to take them a stride ahead of their opponents are scanning medicine’s future, as well as its present. In particular, they are interested in a field known as gene therapy. Gene therapy works by insert... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1714042 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:10:21 +0100 1714042 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1714041&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fopinion%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11848309%26fsrc%3Drss What athletes may or may not do ought to be decided on grounds of safety, not fairnessANOTHER Olympics, another doping debate. And this time it is a fervent one, as recent advances in medical science have had the side-effect of providing athletes with new ways of enhancing performance, and thus of putting an even greater strain on people’s ethical sensibilities. This is especially true of gene therapy. Replacing defective genes holds out great promise for people suffering from diseases such as muscular dystrophy and cancer. But administered to sprightly sportsmen, the treatment may allow them to heave greater weights, swim faster and jump farther (see article). And that would be cheating, wouldn’t it? ... (Source: Biotechnology) Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1714041 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:10:21 +0100 1714041 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1671655&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fopinion%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11848309%26fsrc%3DRSS What athletes may or may not do ought to be decided on grounds of safety, not fairnessANOTHER Olympics, another doping debate. And this time it is a fervent one, as recent advances in medical science have had the side-effect of providing athletes with new ways of enhancing performance, and thus of putting an even greater strain on people's ethical sensibilities. This is especially true of gene therapy. Replacing defective genes holds out great promise for people suffering from diseases such as muscular dystrophy and cancer. But administered to sprightly sportsmen, the treatment may allow them to heave greater weights, swim faster and jump farther (see article). And that would be cheating, wouldn't it? ... (Source: Biotechnology) Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1671655 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:10:21 +0100 1671655 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1671654&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11839246%26fsrc%3DRSS On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, we examine the prospect of athletes using gene therapy to enhance their performance--and of catching them if they tryFOR as long as people have vied for sporting glory, they have also sought shortcuts to the champion's rostrum. Often, those shortcuts have relied on the assistance of doctors. After all, most doping involves little more than applying existing therapies to healthy bodies. These days, however, the competition is so intense that existing therapies are not enough. Now, athletes in search of the physiological enhancement they need to take them a stride ahead of their opponents are scanning medicine's future, as well as its present. In particular, they are interested in a field known as gene therapy. Gene therapy works by inserting extra copies ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1671654 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:10:21 +0100 1671654 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1646192&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11772685%26fsrc%3DRSS Peering into your medical future is riskyIT HAS already delivered ever cheaper and more powerful computers. Now Moore's Law--the prediction four decades ago by Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel, that computer chips would roughly double in performance every 18 months or so--is promising to turbo-charge our health care as well. The "genome chip"--a matchbox-sized micro-array, fabricated on a slither of silicon or quartz, that can detect 1m or more specific genetic variations in an individual's DNA at a time--is following an even steeper price-performance curve than Mr Moore ever imagined. ... (Source: Biotechnology) Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1646192 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:27:30 +0100 1646192 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1640342&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11772685%26fsrc%3DRSS Peering into your medical future is riskyIT HAS already delivered ever cheaper and more powerful computers. Now Moore's Law--the prediction four decades ago by Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel, that computer chips would roughly double in performance every 18 months or so--is promising to turbo-charge our health care as well. The "genome chip"--a matchbox-sized micro-array, fabricated on a slither of silicon or quartz, that can detect 1m or more specific genetic variations in an individual's DNA at a time--is following an even steeper price-performance curve than Mr Moore ever imagined. ... (Source: Biotechnology) Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1640342 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:27:30 +0100 1640342 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1635086&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fworld%2Fbritain%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11750879%26fsrc%3DRSS Test-tube babies are rare in the country where the first was born"BABY of the century" ran the front-page headline of the Daily Express on July 11th, 1978. The paper promised the story of Lesley Brown, who was barricaded inside Oldham and District General Hospital, near Manchester, waiting to give birth. The world's press was camped outside; the front doors locked and staff forced to sneak in and out via a side entrance. Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, the obstetrician and physiologist who had, nine months before, taken an egg from one of Mrs Brown's ovaries under anaesthetic and fertilised it in vitro with her husband's sperm, were in hiding. It had been, said Time magazine after Mrs Brown was delivered of a daughter on July 25th, "the most awaited birth in perhaps 2,000 years".Thirty... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1635086 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:29:20 +0100 1635086 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1546797&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fbusiness%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11632861%26fsrc%3DRSS Efforts to replace oil-based chemicals with renewable alternatives are taking offFORTY years ago Dustin Hoffman?s character in ?The Graduate? was given a famous piece of career advice: ?Just one word?plastics.? It was appropriate at the time, given that the 1960s were a golden age of petrochemical innovation. Oil was cheap and seemed limitless. Since then, scientists have kept on coming up with wondrous new products made from petroleum that helped to ensure, in the words of one corporate slogan, better living through chemistry. Even so, someone offering advice to today?s promising graduates might invoke a different, uglier word: chemurgy. This term, coined in the 1930s, refers to a branch of applied chemistry that turns agricultural feedstocks into industrial and consumer products. It had ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1546797 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:24:00 +0100 1546797 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1531492&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fbusiness%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11580226%26fsrc%3DRSS A genomics merger highlights the potential for personalised medicineFANS of genomics have long argued that decoding genomes one person at a time would revolutionise health care by leading to ?personalised? medicine, in which doctors match the treatment to the individual. As the cost of gene sequencing has fallen, firms have rushed to offer genetic tests directly to consumers, often raising grand expectations. There now seems to be a backlash. Doctors have groused about being bypassed. Punters have grown wary as they realise that most such tests do not provide conclusive evidence of the risk of disease. This month officials in California even sent warning letters to marketers of such genetic tests, as part of an effort to rein in this unruly new industry.So will the genomics revolution now ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1531492 Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:48:21 +0100 1531492 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1512275&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fpeople%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11529537%26fsrc%3DRSS Europe's biotech firms need to think big if they are to prosper, says Lisa Drakeman of GenmabIS EUROPE'S biotechnology industry finally ready for the big time? For decades the continent's scientific elite watched as boffins in America fled academia to start biotech firms. European governments poured billions of euros into ?technology corridors?, ?poles de competitivite?, and other top-down schemes to create biotech clusters. But most of the venture capital still went to American firms, and Europe failed to produce a rival to America's Amgen or Genentech. Defenders of Europe's efforts to promote innovation in biotechnology noisily object to this view. To show that Europe's efforts may at last be paying off, they point to a recent uptick in investment?and to Genmab, a Danish firm led by Lisa... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1512275 Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:09:03 +0100 1512275 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1413508&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11288399%26fsrc%3DRSS The prospects for using genes as a therapy may be improvingFOR around 40 years scientists have understood how genes work. They have known the structure of genes, how they replicate, how they are controlled and expressed and, crucially, how to manipulate them. Such knowledge has been the basis of a genetic revolution that offers the power to rewrite the material from which all living organisms are made. There has been great progress in realising some of this promise, in the form of genetically modified organisms. But ways to correct the genetic mistakes that cause many human diseases have been slower to arrive. Gene therapy has been plagued with problems?naivety, false promises, over-optimism and fatalities. Although thousands of patients have received gene therapy for a variety of conditio... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1413508 Thu, 01 May 2008 12:09:07 +0100 1413508 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1379510&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D11043891%26fsrc%3DRSS Cancers grow from stem cells. That discovery should translate into better treatment for tumours of all typesSTEM cells have a controversial reputation, but in truth they are what makes human life possible. Each tissue in the body grows from a particular sort of stem cell. When it divides, one of its daughters remains a stem cell while the other eventually turns into whatever tissue its mother was designed to produce?be it blood, muscle, nerve or whatever. That is how healthy tissues are renewed, and it is now looking likely that it is how unhealthy tissues are renewed, too. Indeed, many researchers think that the underlying cause of cancer is the brakes coming off the regulatory system that stops normal stem cells from reproducing too much. For one of the most important medical discoveries... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1379510 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:42:27 +0100 1379510 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1316747&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fscience%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10843087%26fsrc%3DRSS An innovative way to fix knees appears to provide lasting benefitsFOR centuries, healers have had high hopes for cell therapy. Various scientists and courtiers since the days of Louis XIV tried infusing those who were ailing with tissue from healthy humans or animals. In 1912 German doctors attempted to treat children who had underactive thyroids with normal thyroid cells, but to little avail. Advances in medicine now offer greater promise for the technique, especially as Carticel implants, which in 1997 became the first cell therapy to be given approval in America, show signs of providing long-term benefits.Over 14,000 patients in America have been treated with Carticel, which uses the patient's own cartilage cells to repair damaged knees. Genzyme, an American biotechnology firm which dev... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1316747 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:13:09 +0100 1316747 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1316746&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fworld%2Fbritain%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10854260%26fsrc%3DRSS Choosing children is not a straightforward businessHOW much right do parents have to shape their children? Except in cases of downright neglect, we generally allow them a pretty free hand. The religious, the musical and the sporty all push their offspring down certain paths and?even if just by spending time that could have been used for other pursuits?close off others.But new reproductive technologies allow parents to choose their children, rather than merely make choices on their behalf. Take Londoners Tomato Lichy and Paula Garfield, who are both profoundly deaf, as is their daughter Molly. They would like another child and, as Ms Garfield is over 40, are considering in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in order to have one. They want that child to be deaf too. That way the new arrival would fit... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1316746 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:13:09 +0100 1316746 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1265245&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10766608%26fsrc%3DRSS The courts ponder how much genetic information the police should holdIT IS an object lesson in the unwisdom of shopping your nearest and dearest after an argument. In 2001 Michael Marper was arrested after his partner complained of harassment; the couple were later reconciled and the case was dropped. But in the meantime Mr Marper had to give police a sample of his DNA--which is still sitting in Britain's DNA database, along with 4.5m others. That collection, already the world's largest, covers 7% of the population (and 40% of black men). It is still growing, boosted by samples taken from all those arrested for a wide range of offences and kept even if they are never charged. Since this lovers' tiff, Mr Marper and a teenager known as "S", who was tried for attempted robbery and acquitted, ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1265245 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:29:17 +0100 1265245 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1265244&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10765352%26fsrc%3DRSS You can tell where someone has been from his hair POLICE now have a new test to help catch criminals and verify alibis. By analysing the chemical composition of human hair, researchers can determine the source of the water someone has been drinking in recent months. And that can indicate where he has been.The technique depends upon studying isotopes. These are naturally occurring variants of elements, which share the same chemical properties but have different weights because their nuclei contain different numbers of neutrons. James Ehleringer and Thure Cerling, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and their colleagues collected human hair from barbers' shops in 65 American towns. They report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that isotopes in hair closely match... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1265244 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:29:17 +0100 1265244 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1247961&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10727808%26fsrc%3DRSS Europe may not like it, but genetic modification is transforming agricultureFOR a decade Europe has rebuffed efforts by biotechnology firms such as America's Monsanto to promote genetically modified crops. Despite scientific assurances that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are safe for human consumption, and a ruling by the World Trade Organisation against national import bans in the European Union, many Europeans have yet to touch or taste them. But that may soon change, according to Iain Ferguson, boss of Tate & Lyle, a British food giant. "We sit at a moment of history when GM technology...is a fact of life," he said this week. Mr Ferguson, who is also the head of Britain's Food and Drink Federation, argues that because many large agricultural exporters have adopted GMOs, it is... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1247961 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:02:28 +0100 1247961 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1215387&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10640593%26fsrc%3DRSS The profits and perils of genetic tinkeringPREPARE to enter the era of directed human evolution, says Ronald Green, a bioethicist and seasoned scientific observer, in his new book, "Babies by Design", which came out in America last November and is now being published in Britain. In the very near future scientists will be snipping and splicing the DNA in human eggs, sperm and embryos, not only fixing faulty genes but adding enhancements too. Soon, we may be able to eradicate terrible genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs and cystic fibrosis. We may be able to make our children more resistant to disease than we are--as well as wiser, stronger, longer-lived and more beautiful. The promise is clear; the risks, scarcely less so. That one scientific slip could mean the creation of a whole new genet... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1215387 Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:28:22 +0100 1215387 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1174987&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10559637%26fsrc%3DRSS The penultimate step towards the creation of artificial life has just been announcedLIKE a striptease artist in front of an eager audience, Craig Venter has been dropping veils over the past few years without ever quite revealing what people are hoping to see: the world's first artificial organism. He has been discussing making one since 1995, when he worked out the first complete genetic sequence of a natural living organism. And, after a lot of hard graft and blind alleys, he and his team have almost got there. As they report in this week's Science, they have replicated the genome of Mycoplasma genitalium, the species that was the subject of that original sequencing effort. It is not actual life, but it is surely the tease before the last veil finally falls away.Though Dr Venter (picture... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1174987 Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:00:36 +0100 1174987 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1158306&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10534084%26fsrc%3DRSS Produce from cloned animals has won regulatory approval. Now companies must persuade consumers to buy it"IT IS beyond our imagination to even find a theory that would cause the food to be unsafe." With that ringing endorsement, Stephen Sundlof, the chief food-safety expert at America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA), this week declared food derived from the offspring of cloned cows, pigs and goats to be safe for human consumption. The decision came just days after the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) publicly reached the same conclusion.At first blush this seems likely to lead to a repetition of the controversies that surrounded the arrival of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture more than a decade ago. Back then an over-zealous industry (led by Monsanto, an Americ... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1158306 Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:29:52 +0100 1158306 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1128802&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10423468%26fsrc%3DRSS Not so much designing a better mousetrap as designing a better mouseTO ENCOURAGE people to take his ideas seriously, Aubrey de Grey, the originator of the strategies for engineered negligible senescence, has organised a competition. He is offering a prize for the development of what he calls a Methuselah mouse.There are actually two prizes to be had. One is for longevity, the other for rejuvenation. The prize for longevity can be won by a new strain of mouse--one bred or genetically engineered to live a long time. That for rejuvenation requires treatment to begin when the mice are already in middle age. ... (Source: Biotechnology) Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1128802 Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:26:22 +0100 1128802 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1075055&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10250272%26fsrc%3DRSS The race for the $1,000 genome is onJUST as computers used to occupy entire rooms, and were able to make only a few thousand computations a second, so the first DNA-sequencing machines were able to read only about 5,000 genetic "letters" a day. Technology changes. Now it is possible for a single machine to sequence a human genome of about 3 billion letters in two months. At this rate, those 5,000 letters would take less than ten seconds.So where next? If the X Prize Foundation has its way, it will soon be possible to sequence a genome in hours. To make that happen, the foundation, perhaps better known for its spaceflight prize, is offering the Archon genomics prize. This will be worth $10m to the first team able to sequence 100 human genomes accurately in ten days or less. (The prize is sp... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1075055 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:05:55 +0100 1075055 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1075054&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10250288%26fsrc%3DRSS Personal genetic testing is advancing rapidly. But beware of oversellingGENETIC testing promises a lot. In particular, it promises to tell people things ranging from their risks of developing ailments as diverse as heart disease, cancer and autism to how much coffee they can safely drink. It also promises a lucrative market for those doing the testing. Single-gene tests, such as those for particular forms of genes that predispose people to breast cancer, have been available for a while. This year, however, has seen the arrival of commercial versions of techniques that can sample a person's entire genetic make-up, and do so in a way that will enable him to benefit from future discoveries as well as existing knowledge. In many cases, knowing the risk will also allow (and might, indeed, encou... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1075054 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:05:55 +0100 1075054 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1045983&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10181274%26fsrc%3DRSS The era of personalised medicine takes a step closer. But it is not quite here yetMEDICINE has long been a mysterious art. Some people are more susceptible to disease than others, and the pills and potions that may help one person leave others uncured. But the past few days have seen steps forward in personalised medicine, in which diagnosis and treatments are tailored to each person's genetic make-up. Two rival firms have just unveiled services that will allow people to scrutinise their own genomes for $1,000.The first was deCODE genetics, an Icelandic firm that has already developed genetic tests for several diseases. On November 16th it announced an internet-based service, called deCODEme. Customers supply genetic material in the form of a cheek swab, which is then compared against a da... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1045983 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:37:12 +0100 1045983 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1045982&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D10170972%26fsrc%3DRSS How to make human embryonic stem cells without destroying human embryosSCIENCE moves fast. On November 14th Nature, one of the world's leading scientific journals, published a paper about the creation of embryonic stem cells using a technique called somatic-cell nuclear transfer (basically, taking the nucleus from a body cell and putting it in an unfertilised egg). This made the news because the researchers had performed their trick in monkeys. The result was thus the first primate embryos to have been cloned, as earlier reports of human cloning turned out to have been fraudulent.There is, however, a second way of making an embryonic stem cell that has the genes of an existing individual. This is to take a body cell and order it to turn into a stem cell using a set of molecular instruction... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1045982 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:37:12 +0100 1045982 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=944649&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D9942052 Prizes for genetically disadvantaged mice, computer hard drives and the basis of much of industrial chemistryTHE award of the Nobel science prizes often brings blinking into the limelight people who have laboured unknown to the wider world. Seldom, though, is there such a compelling human story to go with the intellectual one as that of Mario Capecchi, one of the winners of the medicine prize. His father was an airman who was killed in North Africa during the second world war. His mother was sent to Dachau concentration camp. He survived more than three years as a street kid in Italy before migrating to America after the war was over--and yet he ended up helping to develop one of the most important tools of modern biology, the knockout mouse.It is not quite a rags-to-riches story. In truth... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=944649 Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:08:02 +0100 944649 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=908677&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D9861379 Everyone seems to think that ethanol is a good way to make cars greener. Everyone is wrong SOMETIMES you do things simply because you know how to. People have known how to make ethanol since the dawn of civilisation, if not before. Take some sugary liquid. Add yeast. Wait. They have also known for a thousand years how to get that ethanol out of the formerly sugary liquid and into a more or less pure form. You heat it up, catch the vapour that emanates, and cool that vapour down until it liquefies. The result burns. And when Henry Ford was experimenting with car engines a century ago, he tried ethanol out as a fuel. But he rejected it--and for good reason. The amount of heat you get from burning a litre of ethanol is a third less than that from a litre of petrol. What is more, it absorbs wa... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=908677 Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:08:02 +0100 908677 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=864335&cid=s_36161_70_f&fid=36161&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fdisplaystory.cfm%3Fstory_id%3D9679893 Rapid advances in genetic testing promise to transform medicine, but they may up-end the insurance business in the process"IF YOU can make a good souffle, you can sequence DNA." That assertion sounds preposterous, but Hugh Rienhoff should know. When his daughter was born about three years ago, she suffered from a mysterious disability that stunted her muscle development. After many frustrated visits to specialists, Dr Rienhoff, a clinical geneticist and former venture capitalist, decided to sequence a specific part of her genome himself. He discovered that her condition, which most resembled a rare genetic disorder known as Beals's syndrome, was probably due to a new genetic mutation. "Without a lab and for just a few hundred dollars, you can contract or outsource almost all the steps," he... Biotechnology news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=864335 Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:12:07 +0100 864335