Genome Alberta's Official Newsletter

GE3LS Digest - October 17, 2008

Stem cells: Time to make good on promises – September 28, 2008
http://www.startribune.com/business/29828789.html
If a mathematical equation could demonstrate the commercial vitality of stem cells, it would probably look something like this: Hype/Reality=Anxiety. For all of the ooohs and ahhhs on display at last week's World Stem Cell Summit, there was also a prevailing sense among some investors and industry officials that all of this great technology must soon put up -- or shut up. "We have to hit milestones with the public in order to sustain our momentum," said Linda Powers, co-founder and managing director of Toucan Capital in Bethesda, Md., a venture capital firm that invests in stem-cell start-ups. "This is a relatively young discipline, but there is a [large] amount of hype and expectations. When will the public's expectations expire? "Despite tantalizing chatter about treatments and even cures of diseases such as Parkinson's, cancer and heart failure, the prospect of a stem-cell company actually selling real products and making real profits has never seemed so distant. Amid high development costs, lengthy approval times and skeptical investors, a sobering reality emerges. Commercialization is "excruciatingly slow," said Michael Haider, CEO of BioE Inc., a St. Paul company that extracts stem cells from blood in human umbilical cords. "I'm not aware of a successful stem-cell company. If you thought gene therapy was difficult, then [stem cells] are astronomically difficult."

Schwarzenegger vetoes California stem cell bill – September 29, 2008
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/09/29/daily10.html
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 1565, aimed at making stem cell therapies and diagnostics funded by California’s multibillion-dollar stem cell research agency affordable and accessible. The bill also would have made it easier for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to fund research beyond politically charged embryonic stem cells. In vetoing the bill Saturday, Schwarzenegger said SB 1565 would have undermined “the express intent of Proposition 71,” which California voters approved in 2004, setting up a $3 billion agency with state bonds. Schwarzenegger said the bill would have eliminated the priority for funding human embryonic stem cell research and would have placed restrictions on CIRM’s oversight committee to adopt intellectual property policies that balance patient need and medical research.

Spitting Into The Wind – October 2, 2008
http://www.forbes.com/sciences/forbes/2008/1027/070.html?feed=rss_technology_sciences
In September Google cofounder Sergey Brin blogged about a distressing bit of news: He carried a genetic marker associated with a higher risk for Parkinson's disease. That intimation of mortality generated sympathy for Brin, of course. It also provided a p.r. boost for 23andMe, the Mountain View, Calif. company that markets the $400 "custom genome scan" that Brin had taken, a company that happens to have been cofounded by his wife, Anne Wojcicki. Brin certainly deserves the sympathy. But 23andMe doesn't deserve the good publicity. The company is marketing an expensive bit of medical technology with little proof that it will do any good. Just 11 months old, 23andMe has already become one of the tech world's cool companies, largely because of the Wojcicki-Brin connection. Rupert Murdoch and Harvey Weinstein crowded into a Manhattan lobby last month for a 23andMe-sponsored "spit party" (saliva is used in the test) designed to create buzz.

USDA Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Rule for Biotechnology Regulations – October 6, 2008
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/content/2008/10/brs340.shtml
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) proposes to revise existing regulations regarding the importation, interstate movement and environmental release of certain genetically engineered (GE) organisms under the Plant Protection Act (PPA) of 2000. These proposed revisions to the regulations are in response to emerging trends in biotechnology. New regulations will address the current and future needs of the agency and provide a high level of environmental protection. "This is the most comprehensive review and revision of our biotechnology regulations since they were first developed in 1987," said Cindy Smith, administrator of APHIS. "Revising these regulations now will allow us to ensure effective oversight for years to come." The proposed changes will also improve regulatory processes so they are more transparent to stakeholders and the public, make more efficient use of agency resources and eliminate unnecessary regulatory burdens. The proposed rule also addresses several provisions from the 2008 Farm Bill regarding the improvement of the management and oversight of GE organisms regulated under the PPA of 2000. This proposal does not cover vertebrate animals.

Five Thousand Bucks for Your Genome: A new sequencing service could change the face of human genomics. – October 6, 2008
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/21466/
Starting next spring, a complete human-genome sequence can be ordered for just $5,000, thanks to a new sequencing service announced by Complete Genomics, a startup based in Mountain View, CA. The stunning price drop--sequencing currently costs approximately 20 times that amount--could completely change the way that human-genomics research is done and open up new possibilities in personalized medicine. Researchers say that a $5,000 genome would enable new studies to identify rare genetic variants linked to common diseases, and it could open up the sequencing market to diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies, making genome sequencing a routine part of clinical drug testing. Complete Genomics, which has received $46 million in venture funding to date and has largely stayed under the radar, plans to launch with a bang and anticipates the capacity to sequence 1,000 genomes in 2009 and 20,000 in 2010. That would represent a massive jump: with a price tag of $100,000 to $1 million over the past two years, only a handful of human genomes have been sequenced to date.

University says 2001 stem-cell study used falsified data – October 8, 2008
http://healthandfitness.sympatico.msn.ca/News/ContentPosting?newsitemid=81945038&feedname=CP-HEALTH&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True
The University of Minnesota has concluded that falsified data were used in a 2001 article published by one of its researchers on adult stem cells. The school is asking that the article be retracted. The conclusion follows an 18-month investigation into research published by stem-cell expert Dr. Catherine Verfaillie. The investigation clears Verfaillie of misconduct but points to a former graduate student, Dr. Morayma Reyes, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Washington. The university blames Verfaillie for "inadequate training and oversight," and says it has asked for a retraction of the published article, which appeared in the journal Blood.  Reyes said it was an honest error and there was no intent to deceive. The study was one of a series that Verfaillie published, suggesting that adult stem cells could be used as an alternative to embryonic stem cells in medical research. Her research received international attention because of political and ethical controversies over research involving embryonic stem cells. A panel of experts concluded that four images used in the Blood paper were intentionally altered, according to Tim Mulcahy, the university's vice president of research.

Testicles 'are stem cell source'  -- October 8, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7659120.stm
The cells in a man's testicles may be able to do a lot more than just make sperm - they could provide any cell type in his body. German and UK research suggests that sperm cells can be coaxed into stem cells with similar properties to those found in the embryo. The study, in Nature, raises hopes eventually of a supply of "repair tissue" for other parts of the body.  However, a UK expert said it was too early to draw firm conclusions. Any ability to transform cells taken from an adult back into stem cells, and then onwards into a wide variety of tissue types, offers the chance of "personalised treatment" for patients. Resulting brain, bone, or heart cells could be injected with no fear of rejection by the body's immune system. It would also avoid the ethical controversies surrounding the use of cells taken from embryos.

Scripps to study lifestyle impact of gene testing – October 9, 2008
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=scripps-to-study-lifestyl
San Diego's Scripps Translational Science Institute said on Thursday it will conduct the first study to assess whether people undergoing genetic testing ultimately change their behavior. Participants age 18 and older can receive a scan of their genome -- using a saliva sample -- and an analysis of their genetic risk for more than 20 health conditions that may be changed by lifestyle, including diabetes, obesity, heart attack and some forms of cancer. The study will offer Navigenics Inc scans using gene chip technology from Affymetrix Inc to up to 10,000 employees, family members and friends of the nonprofit Scripps Health system. The research will assess changes in behaviors over a 20-year period.The study is designed to find out if the testing will improve health by motivating people to make lifestyle changes, such as exercising, eating better and quitting smoking, or seek further medical evaluation and preventive strategies."Genome scans give people considerable information about their DNA and risk of disease, yet questions have been raised if these tests are ready for widespread public use," Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps unit and principal investigator of the study, said in a statement.

Egypt to host first Northern African nanotech centre – October 10, 2008
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/egypt-to-host-first-northern-african-nanotech-cent.html
The Egyptian government and IBM Research will join forces to establish the first North African nanotechnology research centre in Cairo, beginning January 2009. Egypt's Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and Science and Technological Development Fund (STDF) signed the three-year partnership agreement with IBM on 18 September. Joint investments will be in the region of US$30 million.
Hany Helal, Egypt's minister of higher education and state minister of scientific research, said in a press release that the IBM deal was important for the implementation of Egypt's science and technology strategy, and reflected a commitment to investing in the development of "highly-skilled, capable young people".Partners in the centre, Cairo University, Nile University and IBM, will collaborate in the areas of simulation and modelling software, alternative energy sources (thin film silicon photovoltaics) and energy recovery for desalination.

Researchers find easier way to make stem cells – October 12, 2008
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE49B2M320081012
Researchers trying to find ways to transform ordinary skin cells into powerful stem cells said on Sunday they found a shortcut by "sprinkling" a chemical onto the cells. Adding the chemical allowed the team at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Massachusetts to use just two genes to transform ordinary human skin cells into more powerful induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells."This study demonstrates there's a possibility that instead of using genes and viruses to reprogram cells, one can use chemicals," said Dr. Doug Melton, who directed the study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. Melton said Danwei Huangfu, a postdoctoral researcher in his lab, developed the new method. "The exciting thing about Danwei's work is you can see for the first time that you could sprinkle chemicals on cells and make stem cells," Melton, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, said in a statement.

'Nanotech search' for antibiotics – October 12, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7663437.stm
UK researchers are using microscopic "nanoprobes" to find new drugs to tackle antibiotic resistance. The tiny ultra-sensitive probes can measure how well a drug binds to bacteria and its ability to weaken and destroy the bug. The researchers tested the silicon-based technology on vancomycin, one of the few remaining antibiotics against infections such as MRSA  The initial results are published in Nature Nanotechnology. It is the first time this type of nanotechnology has been used in screening for new drugs.  The probes are no wider than a human hair - which may seem big by nanotechnology standards - but they are able to detect minute changes at the molecular level. Antibiotics such as vancomycin bind to the bacterial cell wall, disrupting it and causing the bacteria to break down. When bacteria become resistant, small changes occur in the structure of their cell wall making it far harder for the antibiotic to latch on and weaken the structure of the cell.

South African genomics 'making progress' – October 13, 2008
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/south-african-genomics-making-progress-.html
South Africa is carrying out an "impressive" amount of genomics research, but to progress it must address a shortfall in funding and encourage local collaboration. These are the conclusions of an analysis of the use of genetics in South Africa, published in Nature Reviews Genetics (NRG) this month (October) along with overviews of the burgeoning genomics sectors in India, Mexico and Thailand. South Africa, home to vast genetic diversity, is concentrating on profiling indigenous populations and applying genomics to benefit local health needs — HIV and tuberculosis for example — with research into disease susceptibility and drug metabolism. Other African countries are also making advances in the field, with a national DNA bank in The Gambia and human gene banking by drug discovery groups like the African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology (AIBMST) in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Should the UK have a national ethics committee? – October 13, 2008
http://www.bionews.org.uk/commentary.lasso?storyid=4023
The UK is virtually alone in western Europe in not having a national medical ethics committee established by the government. France has had such a committee for nearly twenty-five years, and most of our other neighbours, including Denmark, Ireland and Germany, have long since followed suit. Our nearest equivalent is the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, which has produced some important reports, but which is funded by a charitable body and lacks a close connection with the medical profession. While the UK appears to run more public consultations than some other countries, there is a serious risk of regulatory capture by interest groups and of ensuing public cynicism about the meaningfulness of those consultations.

Icelandic biotech feels the pinch – October 14, 2008
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081015/full/455842a.html
It is not surprising to find an Icelandic business doing badly these days; the country has arguably been hit the worst of any in the current financial crisis. But the serious problems being felt at Iceland's deCode Genetics come more from US markets — from investment decisions made by its bankers, it says, and from a stock price that has plunged 54% since the beginning of September. Looked at one way, the past month has been a good one for the firm. It identified three new schizophrenia-associated mutations (H. Stefansson et al. Nature 455, 232–236; 2008). It filed an application with the US Food and Drug Administration to begin human tests of a new drug for Alzheimer's disease. And earlier this week it reported in Nature Genetics the discovery of genetic variants associated with a risk of the cancer basal-cell carcinoma (S. N. Stacey et al. Nature Genet. advance online publication doi:10.1038/ng.234; 2008).