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GE3LS Digest - November 4, 2008

Scientists find 26 genes promoting lung cancer – October 16, 2008
http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/abc/News/ContentPosting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CP-HEALTH&showbyline=True&newsitemid=36739024
In the largest effort of its kind, scientists have identified 26 genes that, when damaged, appear to promote lung cancer. It's a step toward developing new treatments that can be tailored to specific patients. The federally funded project was the largest ever to screen genes for mutations in the most common form of lung cancer, called adenocarcinoma. The results more than double the catalogue of genes implicated in that condition.
The findings, from scientists at a dozen institutions in the United States and Germany, appear in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in the United States, Canada and worldwide. The study focused on tumours that originated in the lung and were surgically removed. But researchers also hope to study whether the same mutations appear in lung tumours that spread elsewhere.
The scientists sampled 188 tumours. They examined the makeup of 623 genes to look for those that were the most often mutated. The idea is that if a gene is mutated in so many tumours, it probably plays a role in the disease. The mutations clearly arose in the cancers because they did not appear in healthy tissue from the cancer patients. New public

Genome database to spark research, unease – October 19, 2008
http://www.biotechniques.com/default.asp?page=news&subsection=article_display&id=300
Ten volunteers are preparing to share with the world what is arguably their most personal possession: their decoded DNA, along with medical history, ethnic background, and other traits. These pioneers are participating in the Personal Genome Project (PGP), a Harvard University–based research group whose initiative is to provide more openly available genetic information in order to further genetic and medical research.Because the common issues surrounding privacy have been sidestepped by gaining complete consent from the “PGP 10,” as they call themselves, the database—which the project hopes to expand to include 100,000 participants—will include phenotypic information, which has typically been avoided in other databases due to privacy concerns. Complete, open access to this type of data is expected to help researchers better understand how outward traits and genes are linked.In allowing the partial genomes of the 10 volunteers to remain openly accessible, the PGP hopes to also confront the stigma surrounding the concept of a public genome. It is, as the New York Times aptly described, “[a]s much a social experiment as it is a scientific one.” Dr. George M. Church, a human geneticist at Harvard, who is the leader of the PGP and also a participant, concedes that it is unknown how the availability of this information will affect its participants. “We don’t yet know the consequences of having one’s genome out in the open, but it’s worth exploring,” he told the Times.
Others are not so swift to agree. “There will be new uses of this data that people can’t anticipate,” said Kathy Hudson, director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University, “and they can’t do anything to get it back.”

Biotech cash crunch threatens new medicines: UK expert – October 21, 2008
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE49Q21720081027
The global credit crunch, which has already pushed some small biotechnology companies to the wall, could seriously delay the discovery of new life-saving medicines, a British expert warned on Monday. David Wield, director of the Economic and Social Research Council's Edinburgh-based Innogen Center, said the cash crisis now looming for many firms had wider implications for society. "Drug discovery depends on long-term finance with high risk of failure -- and lots of it," he said in remarks prepared for a conference in London. "What will happen to investment in biotech research if finance cannot even be found for relatively everyday expenses, which are increasingly becoming more of a struggle?" Many biotech companies are desperate to find new funds as investors shun the notoriously risky sector, leading to severe financial problems on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to the impact on the basic research performed at biotech companies, development of drugs by large pharmaceutical firms has also been hit by the credit crunch, with several having laid off staff or closed research units, Wield said.

New Zealand approves pig-human tissue transplants for diabetics—October 21, 2008
http://www.physorg.com/news143787874.html
New Zealand on Tuesday gave the green light for clinical trials involving the transplantation of pig cells into humans in a potential breakthrough treatment of diabetes.
Health Minister David Cunliffe said the process, known as xenotransplantation, had huge potential for diabetes sufferers. "This is critical new technology that could well make New Zealand a world leader in both the treatment of diabetes and in the use of xenotransplantation," he said. Biotech entrepreneur Living Cell Technologies Ltd (LCT) wants to transfer cells from the pancreas of pigs to produce insulin in type-1 diabetes sufferers. Though the technology could produce significant benefits for patients, it is highly controversial given the potential for a pig virus to be transferred that could then became capable of spreading as an infection in people. "It remains clear to me that any such trial will always carry a very low residual risk, so the key issue has always been whether this risk is sufficiently small and can be successfully managed," Cunliffe said.

Drought Resistance Is the Goal, but Methods Differ – October 22, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/business/23drought.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin
To satisfy the world’s growing demand for food, scientists are trying to pull off a genetic trick that nature itself has had trouble accomplishing in millions of years of evolution. They want to create varieties of corn, wheat and other crops that can thrive with little water. Skip to next paragraphAs the world’s population expands and global warming alters weather patterns, water shortages are expected to hold back efforts to grow more food. People drink only a quart or two of water every day, but the food they eat in a typical day, including plants and meat, requires 2,000 to 3,000 quarts to produce. For companies that manage to get “more crop per drop,” the payoff could be huge, and scientists at many of the biggest agricultural companies are busy tweaking plant genes in search of the winning formula. Monsanto, the biggest crop biotechnology company, says its first drought-tolerant corn will reach farmers in only four years and will provide a 10 percent increase in yields in states like Nebraska and Kansas that tend to get less rainfall than eastern parts of the Corn Belt.

Nuffield Council on Bioethics launches personalised healthcare study – October 22, 2008
http://www.phgfoundation.org/news/4378/
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has launched a study which will consider the ethical issues raised by new technologies that make healthcare more personalised (see press release). A Working Party has been formed which will examine the ethical issues raised by new technologies such as whole body CT or MRI scans, personal genomics and telemedicine, with the aim of producing a report and recommendations on policy and practice. The Working Party chaired by Professor Christopher Hood will hold a public consultation in Spring 2009 and aims to produce a report with recommendations on policy and practice by early 2010. Many of the issues associated with personalised health care (see previous news) have already been raised in relation to personalised genomics (see previous news). This includes questions about informed consent and data confidentiality, the usefulness of such information to the individual, how it will affect lifestyle choices, regulation of direct-to-consumer tests, and the impact of such information on insurance policies and the NHS as people seek follow-up support. Although the NHS already utilises some forms of the technologies that the project is focusing on, their application as tools for ‘personalised’ healthcare is at present primarily offered by commercial companies.

Prostates Grown from Stem Cells: New proof that the mouse prostate contains stem cells could aid cancer research – October 23, 2008
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/21594/
A single adult stem cell from the prostate of a mouse can develop into an entire functional organ, scientists reported online yesterday in Nature. The finding proves that a population of stem cells exists in the adult prostate, as many have long suspected, and it could provide insight into how prostate cancer develops. "It's extremely exciting, the concept that you can reconstitute an entire prostate from a single cell," says Tyler Jacks, director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, at MIT, who was not involved in the work. "That's impressive stuff." Unlike embryonic stem cells, which can potentially develop into any cell type in the body, adult stem cells are tissue-specific. Many organs are believed to house populations of adult stem cells, but in most cases their existence remains unproven. Known adult stem cells, however, can give rise to all the cell types that characterize the organs in which they're found. Ban on mixed emrbyos of human DNA and animal eggs to remain.

Ban on mixed emrbyos of human DNA and animal eggs to remain – October 24, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24543817-30417,00.html
The ban in Australia on producing embryos that fuse human DNA and empty animal eggs will remain, despite a British vote legalising the inter-species creations for stem cell research. Parliamentary Secretary for Health Jan McLucas said yesterday "cybrid" embryos were illegal and were likely to stay so."We are not considering making any changes at this time," Senator McLucas said.Britain's lower house of parliament yesterday voted 355 to 129 to permit the creation of cybrids to overcome a shortage of human eggs. The eggs are central to therapeutic cloning, a procedure devised to create the embryonic stem cells used in medical research. As ES cells can grow into any type of cell, scientists see them as a vital tool for teasing out the mechanisms of diseases and for developing new therapies. Two British research teams began working to make cybrids this year. One group succeeded, giving legislators an extra push to tidy up existing administrative arrangements in Britain. While Britain still bans other human-animal hybrid embryos, it has exempted the cybrids because the ES cells produced ended up 99.9 per cent human.

Scientist leaves UK due to lack of focus on adult stem cell research –October 27, 2008
http://www.biotechniques.com/default.asp?page=news&subsection=article_display&id=317
A renowned stem-cell researcher plans to leave the UK to pursue his research in France, claiming that the British government gives more precedence to embryo experiments over more “ethical” options. Colin McGuckin, a professor of regenerative medicine at Newcastle University, told Times Higher Education that his motivation for leaving the UK is to “cure and treat more people,” and that France offered a “much better environment” to do so. “[France] is very supportive of adult stem cells because they know that these are the things that are in the clinic right now and will be more likely in the clinic,” he said. “A vast amount of money in the UK from the Government has gone into embryonic stem-cell research with not one patient having been treated, to the detriment of [experimentation into] adult stem cells, which has been severely underfunded.” He added that France has kept a “much more reasoned balance” between endorsing both adult and embryonic stem-cell research, unlike the UK, which he says focuses more on embryonic research. According to the Times Online, McGuckin—after three years at Newcastle University—has decided to move to the University of Lyon in January with his research team of about 10 members and research partner Nico Forraz, to develop the world’s largest institute dedicated to cord blood and adult stem-cell research.

Purple 'super tomato' that can fight against cancer – October 27, 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1080695/Purple-super-tomato-fight-cancer.html
It looks like a cross between an orange and a black pudding, but this genetically modified purple 'super tomato' could be the latest weapon in the fight against cancer. The fruit, which tastes and smells like a normal red tomato, has been given two genes from a snapdragon flower that produce the dark colour. The distinctive hue is created by antioxidant pigments that protect against diseases including cancer, heart problems and diabetes. British scientists behind the crop believe their purple tomato is the respectable face of genetic modification and could help convince the public of the benefits of GM food. But critics say the potential health benefits are a distraction from the harmful environmental side effects of GM farming. The tomato  -  developed by the John Innes Centre in Norwich  -  contains high concentrations of anthocyanins, pigments found in blackberries and cranberries

DG Sanco debates consumer reception of new technologies – October 29, 2008
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Legislation/DG-Sanco-debates-consumer-reception-of-new-technologies
A conference taking place in Brussels is examining how best to deal with emerging technologies like cloning and nanotechnology, and to ensure that consumer confidence is addressed. Called Delivering for Tomorrow’s European Consumers, the Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG Sanco) conference sets out to map future challenges for consumer health and protection, and will be used to finalise a strategic paper on action areas before the new Commission. DG Sanco has just published a draft paper 'Future Challenges: 2009-2014’, setting out the most important challenges it expects to face in the coming years. The paper, which gives a basis for the broad topics at the conference, is the result of two years’ of discussions, and takes account of wide-ranging stakeholder comments. This morning’s session took case studies of technologies that have already elicited some response from consumers. In addition to the questions over the use of animals for meat and other derivatives, and whether the safety nanotechnology has been established, it also looked at consumer views of genetically modified foods.

TIME's Best Inventions of 2008 - November 3, 2008
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854493_1854113,00.html
1.The Retail DNA Test
Before meeting with Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of a consumer gene-testing service called 23andMe, I know just three things about her: she's pregnant, she's married to Google's Sergey Brin, and she went to Yale. But after an hour chatting with her in the small office she shares with co-founder Linda Avey at 23andMe's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., I know some things no Internet search could reveal: coffee makes her giddy, she has a fondness for sequined shoes and fresh-baked bread, and her unborn son has a 50% chance of inheriting a high risk for Parkinson's disease.
Learning and sharing your genetic secrets are at the heart of 23andMe's controversial new service — a $399 saliva test that estimates your predisposition for more than 90 traits and conditions ranging from baldness to blindness. Although 23andMe isn't the only company selling DNA tests to the public, it does the best job of making them accessible and affordable. The 600,000 genetic markers that 23andMe identifies and interprets for each customer are "the digital manifestation of you," says Wojcicki (pronounced Wo-jis-key), 35, who majored in biology and was previously a health-care investor. "It's all this information beyond what you can see in the mirror."

No consensus on when human life begins – November 3, 2008
http://www.bionews.org.uk/new.lasso?storyid=4049
An international poll has shown a range of opinions about when human life begins biologically. It comes ahead of a proposed constitutional amendment in Colorado, US, which could confer legal rights to embryos at the point of fertilisation. The poll was commissioned by Reproductive Biology Associates, an IVF clinic in Atlanta, Georgia. Respondents were asked when human life begins and given a dozen answers, ticking the one they most agreed with. Overall, 23.5 per cent of voters selected detection of fetal heartbeat as the point when human life begins. Just under 23 per cent selected fertilisation, and implantation of the embryo in the womb lining came third, with 15 per cent. Around 650 people were polled. Colorado's constitutional amendment proposes that fertilisation is when human life begins, and also that this is when someone becomes a person, deserving the same legal rights and protection under the US constitution as any child or adult citizen. If it gets voted for, it could make it easier for abortion to be outlawed in Colorado, and encourage similar amendments to be made in other US states.