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GE3LS Digest - June 4, 2009

INTERNATIONAL

Hwang Claims to Have Cloned Pig Stem Cells – May 15, 2009
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2009/05/129_44979.html
Researchers at disgraced gene scientist Hwang Woo-suk's Sooam Biotech Research Center claimed they have for the first time created cloned pig embryos and used them to make embryonic stem-cell lines.
Scientists have successfully extracted stem cells from cloned primate embryos, as described in a study on monkeys published in the peer-review journal, Nature, in 2007. However, this marks the first time that stem cells have been created from the cloned embryos of a pig, and the findings could contribute to developing techniques to extract stem cells from cloned human embryos, Sooam officials said.

Dark Side of GM Plants – May 19, 2009
http://www.russia-ic.com/education_science/science/science_overview/911/
Over 125 million hectares in the world are currently under transgenic or genetically modified plants, and about one-fifth (21-23%) of these plants are resistant to pests. In most plants such resistance is a result of genetic engineering via introduction of a gene of soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into plant genome – plants produce bacterial protein (Bt-toxin), which is toxic for insects. Biologists consider mentioned toxins to be among most environmentally friendly means for plant protection, since plants produce them in concentrations, which are harmless for homoiothermal animals. Moreover, these toxins are selective – they kill not all insects, but only certain species: biologists have Bt-toxins, killing flying insects, moth slugs or beetles… Well, the medal has two sides. Recent research showed that plants with Bt-toxins might have negative effect on our environment.

Genetically Modified Foods Pose Huge Health Risk – May 20, 2009
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-genetically-modified-foods-pose-huge-health-risk-r-1242859438
This week, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on “Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks.” They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. AAEM’s position paper stated, “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food,” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation,” as defined by recognized scientific criteria. “The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies.”

Scientists fight cancer with nanotechnology – May 21, 2009
http://www.physorg.com/news162114549.html
Nanotechnology researchers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have developed a method of detecting, tracking, and killing cancer cells in real time with carbon nanotubes. The discovery opens the prospect of a new, major front in the fight to eradicate cancer with promise for a new generation of cancer treatment beyond surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Dr. Alex Biris, University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) chief scientist at the Nanotechnology Center and assistant professor of applied science in University's Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology, and Dr. Vladimir P. Zharov, professor and director of the Phillips Classic Laser and Nanomedicine Laboratories in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, published their findings in the latest issue of the Journal of Biomedical Optics.

Francis Collins said to be contender to run NIH – May 23, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-na-nih-collins23-2009may23,0,5889122.story
Francis S. Collins, the scientist who led the U.S. government drive to map the human genetic code, is the leading candidate to run the National Institutes of Health, a source familiar with the selection process said. Screening for Collins, 59, is in the final stages, said the source. Collins would take over an agency that President Obama has made key to his plans for reviving the U.S. economy and overhauling healthcare. The 27 institutes and centers under the NIH umbrella employ more than 18,000 people and fund research at thousands of universities and medical schools. The former head of the National Human Genome Research Institute, a member agency, Collins became a driving force in the race to catalog the 3 billion letters of the human genetic code. As director of the institutes, Collins will face calls to boost spending on cancer research and free science from politics as well as financial conflicts of interest.

Doctors' group calls for moratorium on genetically modified foods – May 25, 2009
http://www.examiner.com/x-7281-Detroit-Alternative-Medicine-Examiner~y2009m5d25-Doctors-group-calls-for-moratorium-on-genetically-modified-foods
In a press release issued on May 19, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine released a position paper calling for a moratorium on genetically modified foods. These foods--primarily corn, soy, canola and cotton, most of which are used in production of oils and animal feed--are linked, they claim, to mutagenic and other undesirable effects in not only the plants themselves but in those consuming them. Citing a lack of long term study of the modified plants (often referred to as GMO, or genetically modified organisms), the doctors of this organization want the food and agricultural industries to further study the impact of genetic engineering on the internal organs, reproduction, and disease resistance of animals fed such foods.

Will Consumers Sustain Direct-to-Consumer Genomics? – May 26, 2009
http://www.bio-itworld.com/news/2009/05/26/consumer-model-genomics.html
Welcome to the world of consumer genomics, where there are different rules for building successful businesses than in medical diagnostics. A host of companies are marketing or selling genetic tests directly to consumers. As expected, some companies are far more evidence-based than others in their test and product offerings. Personal genomics companies first launched in November 2007, including 23andMe, deCODEme, and Navigenics, and have brought the latest in gene chip technologies to the marketplace. Knome will sequence your entire genome for $99,500. But genetic testing has been marketed to consumers in various ways for a long time. Most of the earlier firms built on past capabilities in doing forensic genetics and, as Internet retailing started to grow, began offering paternity and family relationship tests online to consumers.

What's the Point in Patenting Genes? Whatever the outcome of the ACLU vs. Myriad case, a new effort is needed to turn genetic testing into a useful diagnostic tool. - -May 27, 2009
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22704/
Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit that challenges the right of Myriad Genetics to patent a genetic test for breast cancer. The suit revives the question, should human DNA be owned? For years, patent officials around the world have wrestled with how to apply existing patent law to the discovery of genes that promise to be powerful predictors of disease. The legal question has been, are these discoveries natural entities that cannot be patented, or can a diagnostic test involving a particular gene be considered intellectual property? Currently, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has it both ways. It does not allow anyone to patent my own specific BRCA1 gene, but it allowed Myriad to patent the sequence of the gene with mutations that indicate breast cancer--which can then be compared with another patient's version of the gene to see if she carries the mutation pattern.

GM crops and the gene giants: bad news for farmers – May 27, 2009
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8960
The global North's super-sized carbon footprint has already trampled the South's farmers, most recently in the form of energy crop plantations, which have been directly responsible for deforestation and farmer evictions in some developing countries, including Indonesia and Tanzania. Now the world's largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in crops genetically engineered to withstand the environmental stresses associated with climate change, such as drought, heat, cold, floods and saline soils. In 2008 the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration reported that the largest of these companies, including BASF, Bayer, DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta, had already filed 532 patent documents on so-called “climate ready” genes at patent offices around the world.

World first: Japanese scientists create transgenic monkeys – May 27, 2009
http://www.physorg.com/news162649086.html
In a controversial achievement, Japanese scientists announced on Wednesday they had created the world's first transgenic primates, breeding monkeys with a gene that made the animals' skin glow a fluorescent green. The exploit opens up exciting prospects for medical researchers, they said.
It could eventually lead to lab monkeys that replicate some of humanity's most devastating diseases, providing a new model for exploring how these disorders are caused and how they may be cured.
"Great advances in pre-clinical research can be expected using these models," the team said.
But other voices warned of a potential ethics storm, brewed by fears that technology used on our closest animal relatives could be turned to create genetically-engineered humans.

Genetics-based products stir concerns: Scientists worry about promises –May 27, 2009
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2009/05/27/genetics_based_products_stir_concerns?mode=PF
Whether it is a new skin care product that promises to "reactivate" the youth in your genes or tests that offer nutrition advice tailored to your DNA, the age of consumer genetics is here. Lancome is selling "Genifique," a skin serum developed by identifying genes more active in young skin. Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer products company, has been investigating the genetics of everything from dandruff to the common cold. Startups are offering consumers full-genome scans and more targeted genetic tests to customize advice on weight loss or heart health. But as genetics spreads beyond the lab, scientists worry that companies are making overblown promises before the science is mature enough to meet public expectations - and that this could spark a backlash. It is one thing, they say, for scientists to study the role of genes in illness or aging. But it is another to give directly to consumers information about genes that might raise risk for a disease in poorly-understood ways, or to offer an effective product that makes genetic claims.

Gene for glowing passed along to monkey offspring, researchers say – May 27, 2009
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/science/090527/g052731A.html
Scientists gave marmosets a gene that made their feet glow green, and one of the animals passed it along to its offspring - the first time that an added gene has been inherited by a monkey. It was a milestone, experts said, that should make it easier to produce animals with versions of human disease for medical research. Animals that get added genetic material are called transgenic. While researchers have long created transgenic mice and other animals by giving them extra genetic material, monkeys offer a promising avenue for medical studies because of their similarity to humans. Researchers have added genes to rhesus macaques before by injecting embryos, but the new work is the first documentation that such genes can be passed along to future generations of monkeys. That's important because it opens the door to creating colonies of transgenic monkeys by breeding, which would be far simpler than the cumbersome process of making each animal from scratch by injecting a gene into an embryo.

Louisville close to clinical trials of stem cell treatment for macular degeneration – May 28, 2009
http://www.wave3.com/global/story.asp?s=10441208
A UofL researcher is leading the way in a potential cure for macular degeneration. Dr. Henry Kaplan, who routinely treats patients for the disease, says even today 90% of people with age-related macular degeneration really don't have an effective treatment. So news that researchers at UofL may be close to finding a cure with the help of the patient's own stem cells is creating a lot of excitement. Although studies in humans aren't starting just yet, patients may not have long to wait. "Anything is scary, if you think about it too much," said Ann Gardner. That's why, at 87 years old, she tries not to consider what it would be like to living the last of her golden years without sight. Macular Degeneration has already robbed Ann of most of the vision in her right eye and there are signs of the disease in her left eye too. She knows her doctor, UofL's Henry Kaplan, is doing a lot of research on finding better treatments and even a cure, but she isn't convinced it could happen in her lifetime.

Gene Defect Corrected in Human Stem Cells: New research outlines a path toward new therapies with induced pluripotent stem cells – June 1, 2009
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22724/
For the first time, researchers have fixed the gene defect in cells from patients with an inherited disease, and then transformed the tissue into stem cells with the potential to reverse their condition. While scientists haven't yet tested the treatment in humans, the research could mark the beginning of a new age of curative treatments for many genetic disorders. The proof of concept study, led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, in La Jolla, CA, focused on patients with a rare condition, Fanconi anemia, which causes skeletal problems and bone-marrow failure, and raises sufferers' risk of cancer.

Research Finds 'New Crop' of Breast Cancer Genes: Study in mice also suggests possible treatment with blood pressure med – June 1, 2009
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100239588
Researchers say they have found a gene common in up to one in five breast cancers that a blood pressure medication might combat. Their study, published online in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, found that the AGTR1 gene makes healthy breast cells act like cancer cells. But tests on mice with tumors containing the gene found that the blood pressure drug losartan (Cozaar) stopped that behavior and shrank the tumors by 30 percent within eight weeks of treatment, according to the researchers, from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The blood pressure drug had no effect on tumors lacking the gene.

Genetic testing in minors: ESHG recommendations – June 2, 2009
http://www.phgfoundation.org/news/4648/
The European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) has published a set of recommendations concerning genetic testing of asymptomatic minors in a clinical context [Eur J Hum Genet (2009) 17: 720-721]. The recommendations follow a period of public consultation (see previous news) and are accompanied by a background paper discussing some of the general considerations with regards to the provision of genetic tests to minors [Borry P et al. Eur J Hum Genet (2009) 17: 711-719].Several different testing scenarios are discussed, including genetic testing for adult-onset disorders, childhood-onset disorders and carrier testing. The papers also make an important distinction between presymptomatic testing, where an abnormal test result implies that the disease will almost certainly develop later in life, and predictive testing, where an abnormal result implies a substantial risk that the disease may develop later in life. The guiding principles that were considered when writing the recommendations included the concept of ‘best interests’ of the child, the ability of minors to make informed health care decisions, parents' responsibilities to share genetic information, and the role of clinical geneticists and genetic counselors in communicating with the family.



The Bioeconomy to 2030: designing a policy agenda – May 2008
http://www.oecd.org/document/48/0,3343,en_2649_36831301_42864368_1_1_1_1,00.html
A new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that by 2015 about half of global production of the major food, feed, and industrial feedstock crops is likely to come from plant varieties developed using one or more types of biotechnology. These types include not only genetic modification (GM) but also intragenics, gene shuffling, and marker assisted selection, the report says. Its conclusion is based on an analysis of past trends, GM field trial data, and company reports.


Agricultural Biotechnology in Latin America: A quantitative perspective – May 2008
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/dp/ifpridp00860.asp
In this paper, we consider both modern and traditional biotechnologies, yet emphasize issues surrounding genetically modified crops. The cultivated area with GM crops has increased at an accelerated pace in Latin America and the Caribbean to 32 million hectares, yet this expansion has happened only in three crops (soybeans, corn, cotton), two traits (herbicide and insect resistance, or combinations of both) and eight countries (Brazil, Argentina, México, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Honduras and Colombia). Private multinational companies have developed all of the products launched commercially in Latin America. Developers in national innovation systems in Latina America have not transferred any GM product to producers in the region. This does not mean the innovation sector in LAC countries has not produced sufficiently mature technologies. To the contrary, technologies exist in the regulatory pipeline in some countries that can be commercialized pending approval for commercialization.